RADICAL HEROES - INTERNATIONAL BRIGADERS

As noted HERE, just as the Spanish Civil War was "winding down", the Very British Civil War was "heating up". In late 1938, the "International Brigades", then fighting for the Spanish Republic, were disbanded and withdrawn (in a futile attempt by the then President of the Republic, Juan Negrin, to make an end to all foreign intervention in the conflict, and win the support of the British and French Governments). This meant that a lot of British Radicals (in significant part, Communists), experienced in the ways of civil war, then returned to the UK - with consequences well known to all VBCW historians.

In any event, the British Contingent of the International Brigades has been well (indeed, exhaustively) documented - down to the personal histories of each individual fighting with the "British Battalion". THIS PAGE HERE gives wonderful detail of the kind of personalities who were willing to fight, and if necessary, die, for the "Anti-Fascist cause" in the late 1930s:

A posthumous Communist salute from Charles Goodfellow, a Scottish miner
and member of the CPGB from 1921. Killed by shrapnel to the head on Mosquito Ridge,
 Battle of Brunete. He arrived in Spain on 22nd December 1936. MORE HERE

Although consistently describing themselves simply as "Anti Fascists", the International Brigades were in large part organised and financed by the Comintern and, at the Comintern's orders, European Communist Parties. Harry Pollitt, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, did his bit from 16, King Street, the CPGB HQ, and visited the British Battalion in Spain:

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British Battalion LtoR - Walter Tapsell with pipe, William Paynter, Fred Copeman, 

Harry Pollitt, George Aitken, George Brown, Bert Williams.

28mm International Brigade from North Star Figures (Crusader). It's not clear whether
these are still available, or have now gone OOP - enquiries to North Star.
Nobody (as yet) seems to make a 28mm "Harry Pollitt" figure.

All you need to complete an "International Brigade" force for the VBCW
 - a generic International Brigade Flag.

TYPES OF THE VBCW (20) - SPANISH SOVIET ADVISER

The relationship between the Spanish Civil War and the Very British Civil War, as previously noted, is somewhat hazy; one thing that is certain, however, is that just as the Spanish Civil War was winding down (it officially ended in the Spring of 1939), the Very British Civil War was heating up. Hence, it's no surprise that a variety of battle-hardened "advisers" made their way from Spain to Herefordshire, including this stern-looking "Spanish Soviet" officer:

Very nicely painted Bolt Action Soviet Adviser.
Ideal for the Presteigne or Kington Communist Fronts.

Strangely, notwithstanding the chaotic and deadly nature of the fighting in Herefordshire, Soviet "advisers" may have thought a transfer "in County" from Spain to be some form of life-saver. The record of Communist military advisers recalled from the Spanish Civil War direct to Moscow was not a happy one, as illustrated by the well-known Vladimir Copic (see full Wiki bio HERE):

Vladimir Copic. A prominent Yugoslav Communist and famous (or notorious)
Republican Commander and Commissar of the XVth International Brigade
during the Spanish Civil War. After the Battles of Jarama and Belchite, recalled
to Moscow, denounced and imprisoned as a Trotskyite deviationist, then shot by
the NKVD in April 1939. For earlier purges of prominente, see HERE.

Add edit:

A similar fate befell Manfred Stern, aka General Kleber, the "Saviour of Madrid".
Recalled to Moscow, he was tried, condemned and sentenced to fifteen years
hard labour in May 1939. The remainder of his life was spent in the Gulag.
He died of exhaustion in February 1954. See his WIKI HERE

OFFENSIVE MINIATURES 28mm SOVIETS

The wonderfully named Offensive Miniatures have been slowly putting together a range of 28mm WW2 Soviets, with some very nice character figures suitable for VBCW Communists:

Junior Officer/Command Figure

Commissar with Megaphone. An excellent addition for a mightily
overworked Commissar Moody and his megaphone van

Standard Bearer with Red Flag

The latest additions to the range were shown at this year's Salute - a nice variety of AT Rifles and AT Teams. Very useful as many ranges have AT Rifles with completely prone operators, which takes up a lot of "base space" and can be quite uninspiring:

No idea when the AT Rifles will make it into production, but worth checking back on the Offensive Miniatures SHOP here from time to time.

Add Edit: Alternatively, if you can't wait for Offensive Miniatures' latest AT releases, Warlord already produce a very interesting array of Communist AT Weapons:

STALINS "RE-INFORCEMENTS"

After "The Disaster at Dinmore" and "The Martyrdom at Willersley", the rumour is that Comrade Stalin is intent on providing more troops to the suddenly hard pressed Kington and Presteigne Soviets:

Soviet Infantry in greatcoats with Moisin-Nagant rifles and budenovka headgear.

A nice military band to accompany the infantry.

Rather more useful Horse Artillery - and motorcycle despatch rider.

Searchlight truck, supply vehicles, and a unique looking Armoured Car.

Staff Commander A.D. Mann, spokesman for Lord de Braose, Governor of Hereford and Lord Warden of the Marches, has had no difficulty in dismissing such rumours, identifying Stalin's proposed contribution as, at best, "mere paper re-inforcements"....

Note: paper Soviets from c. 1932, via Pinterest.

A WARGAME FIRST ? CAMPAIGN CHARACTER CREATED & COLOURISED

Comrade Colonel Professor Winters, the "Great Leader" of the Presteigne Soviet, was (for once) not in  command of the Communist "raiding forces" recently engaged along the A438 to the west of Hereford (Spring Big Game 2024). Having suffered a severe defeat at "The Disaster at Dinmore" (Spring Big Game 2023), Winters only narrowly escaped subsequent liquidation, and was wise enough to leave the raiding forces in the hands of a junior commander, Captain Izny Stroganov.

A rare photograph of Winters before the start of the Very British Civil War has recently been auctioned at Bonhams:

Professor Winters in his rooms at Cambridge, 1935. 
During this year, Winters started his famous "Dialetical Debate" with Raj Palme Dutt,
chief theoretician of the CPGB. See HERE

As admirers of  contemporary colourised photographs we are, of course, delighted that the "Bonhams Portrait" has now gone through this process:

Professor Winters 'colourised'.

Along with the rest of us, Professor Winters now waits anxiously for news of Captain Stroganoff's "A438 Encounter" with the enemy:

Comrade Colonel Professor Winters "Field HQ" outside Presteigne.
When will that phone ring ? What will be the news ?

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Note: For those readers who appreciate a firm distinction between reality and fiction (hardly anybody in the Hereford VBCW), it should be noted that Winters' photograph was created by Rob B using an AI programme. For more AI generated images of the VBCW, including some by Rob B, see HERE. AI is clearly a massive boon for the wargame campaigner and RPGr - now it is possible not only to create a campaign character, but also create his or her portrait photograph. Could it be that Winters' "Bonham Portrait" is a wargame first ?

28MM STALIN

Now that the contents of his (second) secret freighter have been delivered to Herefordshire, it's time to ask a critical VBCW question : who makes the best 28mm Stalin miniature ?

C-P Models Stalin. Unknown painter.

Part of C-P Models WW2 Leaders Personality Pack. Late war Adolf and a 
very nice miniature of Churchill "in naval mode".

Woodbine Designs SMG Stalin and aide

Black Tree Design (ex-Harlequin) Stalin painted in "Potsdam" uniform

"Potsdam Uniform" reference shot.

"Summer Uniform" BTD Stalin posed together with Colonel Comrade Professor Winters
(another BTD ex Harlequin figure). Painted by "bonoborc"

All good figures, and all we can say is that "the best" is in the eye of the beholder.....

A typical 1930s Poster of Stalin, surrounded by Soviet military
aid on its way to the Presteigne Soviet.

STALIN'S SECRET FREIGHTER (THE SECOND) - RED FRONT !

Stalin's second secret freighter from Leningrad has now disgorged its contents, to the great delight of Comrade Colonel Professor Winters and the Presteigne Soviet:

Heavy Katyusha Battery.
Lledo stake trucks, odd plastic missiles salvaged from the Bitzbox, Red Stars by WH Smith

The official history of the Katyusha is HERE. Although it is acknowledged that testing of rockets took place in the Soviet Union as early as 1928, with prototype truck mounted rockets being tested in June 1938, there is (strangely) no mention of the role played by Katyushas in the VBCW. This may very well be to camouflage the fact that, in 1938, truck mounted rockets were first used in battlefield conditions by the Ludlow Expeditionary Force ("LEF") at the Battle of Bredwardine Bridge, and thereby to avoid "an insult to Soviet science".

Whatever may be the case, there is no doubt that the Soviet nickname of "Katyusha" (trans. "Katie") for such truck mounted rocket batteries caught on, even in the VBCW, and that the Soviets then cornered the market in "rocket launchers and folk songs" (see WIKI on Katyusha song). Many variants of "Katyusha" have been recorded over the years, but we particularly enjoy this uber-kitsch 2008 version at the Russian equivalent of Glastonbury.

Anyway, enough of folk songs - on to the really heavy metal:

Armoured & Full Tracked "Big Guns" - introducing the KV-2 

Named after one of the two servile "Red Marshals" who survived the Red Army Purge of 1938 (KV = Kliment Voroshilov), the history of the KV series is HERE. Nevertheless, the above colourised photograph conclusively demonstrates that KV-2s were first developed for the Presteigne Soviet in 1938, rather than (as is commonly but erroneously believed) as a special conversion for the Russo-Finish War of 1939.

Stalin and Voroshilov salute a May Day parade in Red Square.
We understand that a loose translation of the slogan reads:
"Death to Fascists Wherever They May Be -
 Fraternal Aid to the Presteigne Soviet !"

The provision of such advanced heavy artillery has encouraged Comrade Colonel Professor Winters to form two "independent armoured brigades":

Presteigne Soviet First Armoured Brigade

Presteigne Soviet Second Armoured Brigade

With Stalin's delivery of such special heavy weapons, Christmas has come early

 for the Presteigne Soviet. Here is a Christmas Card of the time. We understand

that a somewhat loose translation of the card motto states:

 "All praise to all wise Comrade Stalin for his fraternal support

 of Comrade Professor Colonel Winters !" 

Notes:

The KV-2s are simple to put together "cartoon"/"box scale" tanks from Meng Models "World War Toons" series:

Meng World War Toon range. Worth looking at for VBCW tanks, although suitability varies.
These KV-2 kits (especially the Q version in the UK) can be found for as little as £5.00
if one scours the market diligently.

RED FRONT TANK POWER (2) !

Following Comrade Commissar Moody's announcement HERE of new Soviet tank designs, the Commissar has been back in action, press releasing a doubling of Presteigne Red Front armour:

The original Red Front tank design

Doubling Soviet Tank Power - new additions to the Presteigne Armoury

Aerial recognition markings on the new additions, "red stars" courtesy of WH Smith.
Essential for pilots of the Red Air Force

Notes:

(1). These "Proley" tanks originated via "secret freighter" from Leningrad". A second "secret freighter" - part of Stalin's re-assurance to Comrade Colonel Professor Winters -  is expected imminently.

(2). Winters has now returned from London to Presteigne. Exact details of how he evaded HMG's searches for him remain sketchy, but may have involved a GWR freight car and large consignment of mature aspidistra. In any event, Winters has not been slow to celebrate the Presteigne Soviet's new tank power:

A triumphant return for Winters - full of "armoured promise" for the future of the Hereford VBCW

Note : Upon Winters' return, it is said that the Presteigne proletariat burst into spontaneous song in praise of their "Great Leader" - see HERE. Or possibly HERE.

SOVIET MARSHALS

Not all of Stalin's senior military commanders proved as fortunate as Comrade Colonel Professor Winters (see blogposts passim). Here are the five Marshals of the Red Army in November 1935, when the rank was first instituted:

LtoR - Tukhachevsky, Budyonny, Voroshilov, Blyukher, Yegorov.

By the Spring of 1939, three out of these five Marshals would be dead - liquidated by the NKVD on the orders of Stalin:

Marshal Tukhachevsky. Arrested 22nd May 1937. After a show trial on
11th June 1937, shot in the back of the head in the early hours of 12th June 1937.

Marshall Blyukher. Arrested 22nd October 1938. During 18 days of torture,
was blinded and beaten to death by Lavrentiy Beria and his
  NKDV interrogators. Died 9th November 1938.

Marshal Yegerov. Arrested February 1938. Shot by the NKVD
without benefit of show trial on 23rd February 1939.

Notes

(1). Tukhachevsky's interrogation was overseen by Nikolai Yezhov, then head of the NKVD. In a telling and particularly horrible detail, the Marshal's written "confession" (to having been a German agent) was found by modern examination to be "dappled with a brown spray...blood splattered by a body in motion.." Yezhov was himself subsequently liquidated, shot on 4th February 1940 after a secret trial, and replaced by Beria. In turn, Beria was eventually liquidated, shot on 23rd December 1953 - after yet another secret trial.

(2). Tukhachevsyk's trial was presided over by Vasili Ulrikh, a senior military judge, and included Marshals Blyukher, Budyonny, and Yegerov, Army Commanders Aksnis, Shaposhnikov, Belov, Dybenko and Kashirin, and Corps Commander Goryachev. All of these individuals were subsequently liquidated themselves, saving only Ulrikh, Budyonny and Shaposhnikov.

(3). "Liquidations" extended to family members. By way of example - Tukhachevsky's wife was shot. His two brothers, both instructors in a Soviet military academy, were shot. Three of his sisters were sent to the Gulag, as was his daughter. 

PEONY WARS (4) - RED CAVALRY

 Being an occasional series on converting the classic convention game, "Pony Wars", to a VBCW variant...

While the Presteigne Motor Works churns out more and more noisy smelly diesel engined thingies, Presteigne's need for more and more Communist cavalry has not been forgotten:

1st and 2nd Cavalry Sections, as featured in THIS POST

Vigorous recruitment efforts have now resulted in a doubling of Red Cavalry strength:

New additions - 3rd and 4th Cavalry Sections

All the cavalry together - 4 sections - now enough for a Red Cavalry Platoon
(without heavy weapons yet) according to the WTDW Rules. 

Nevertheless, as "Peony Wars" requires a minimum of 300 Red Cavalry (as explained in THIS POST), there is still an awful long way to go before Hereford1938 can even think of staging a VBCW variant of the classic Convention Game:

A familiar refrain from Comrade Colonel Knokisblokov and staff

The rumour is that even greater recruitment efforts may shortly lead to results:

Red Cavalry barracks - with existing and "in preparation" cavalry.
A file box can take seven sections of Cavalry - this box therefore
represents just under 25% of the force required for a game of 
"Peony Wars"

Notes:

(1). To view the complete "Peony Wars" saga, click the "Peony Wars" blog label to the right of this post.

RED FRONT ARMOURED CARS

While a relieved and grateful Comrade Winters makes his way back from London to Herefordshire, the "Presteigne Motor Show and International Sales Exhibition", under the leadership of Commissar Moody of the Presteigne Soviet's "Bureau Desinformatziya", continues to astonish visitors.

Having previously showcased a horde of heavily armed "Technicals", together with these new Soviet tanks, Moody has now paraded some light armoured cars to "spearhead" the newly raised (and highly mechanised) Second and Third Shock Armies:

"Red Front" armoured cars - a bodge of "cheep Chinese plastic chassis" (originally thought to be of
a Daimler armoured car, but so distorted by constant copying as to be pretty much unrecognisable)
with turrets from 1970s Atlantic plastic 1/76 Shermans. Commander by First Corps.

Moody boasts that, with a mixture of these armoured cars and the previously showcased Technicals, the Soviet Recce Sections are more than capable of dealing with anything produced by the Ledbury BUF (see HERE and HERE)

COMRADE WINTERS LONDON JOURNEY - AMBASSADOR MAISKY

Comrade Colonel Professor Winters finally took the plunge and entered the Soviet Embassy at 13, Kensington Gardens. He was met in the entrance hall by none other than the Soviet Ambassador himself, Ivan Maisky:

Mr Ambassador Maisky, making clear his one allegiance.

Always a resourceful diplomat, Maisky kept this bust of Lenin to hand,
perhaps as an insurance policy in the case of political change in Moscow.

Stalin's purge of the Red Army and Navy, launched in the Summer of 1937, resulted in the liquidation of three out of five marshals of the Red Army, 13 out of 15 army commanders, eight out of nine admirals, 50 out of 57 army corps commanders, 154 out of 186 division commanders, all of the Red Army's senior commissars (16 in total) and 25 out of 28 commissars of army corps. With such a terrible record, Comrade Colonel Professor Winters knew that his chances of survival were slim indeed.

But Maisky was smiling....

Ambassador Maisky at his desk - and smiling.

He could absolutely assure Comrade Winters that Comrade Stalin had no intention of recalling him from his vital command in Herefordshire; the thought of Winters' so-called "liquidation" had never even entered Stalin's mind. To the contrary, Comrade Stalin was his greatest admirer, and looked forward to the day when Winters finally established the mighty Herefordshire Soviet.

A message between Comrades, Stalin to Winters.
Liquidation had never entered his mind, honestly.

As a token of Stalin's esteem, arrangements had been made for certain very heavy weapons to be released from the Red Army's armoury and transported to Presteigne, and Stalin would be happy to hear of Winters' future military intentions...

VBCW Historical Notes

(1). There is still considerable debate in VBCW historical circles as to the reasons why, following the Disaster at Dinmore, Stalin changed his mind about the repatriation and liquidation of Winters. It may have been simply a matter of timing, for there were already strong rumours of an imminent Government counter-offensive in Herefordshire. It may therefore have been thought inadvisable to change Communist leadership at this precise point. There may also have been an intervention from the Liverpool Free State (LFS), with whom it is known that Winters had strong contacts - Stalin would have been wary of losing access to the port of Liverpool and "control" of the aircraft carrier, Red Invergordon. The best analysis seems to be that Winters' promised Stalin increased productivity from the Presteigne Motor Works (PMW), and also provided detailed plans for a Communist Victory even in the face of battlefield defeat - the so called "Special Revolutionary Operation". 

(2). Maisky kept a diary throughout his time as Ambassador to London. Aware that the diary could be subsequently be used against him, Maisky clearly "self edited" his true thoughts during its compilation. When the transcript then fell into the hands of the KGB, it was again edited; and then again for publication. It must be for these reasons that the published Maisky Diaries contain no mention of the VBCW, nor of Comrade Colonel Professor Winters and his visit to the Soviet Embassy.

(3). Maisky was himself "recalled to Moscow" in 1943. A decade later, during the post-war Stalinist purge centred around the so-called "Doctor's Plot", he was arrested and threatened with torture, subsequently "confessing" to have been a foreign spy for both the Japanese and, following his recruitment by Winston Churchill personally, the British. Maisky was only saved from execution by the death of Stalin in March 1953. Upon being told the news, Maisky refused to be believe it, thinking it a trap: he continued to insist upon his "confession" to having been a spy. It was only when Maisky was reunited with his wife and shown film of Stalin's funeral that he felt safe enough to retract the whole invented story. For Maisky's bio see his WIKI entry HERE.