I made this diorama (or is it a vignette?) 28 years ago. While I still have the vehicles and these 35mm prints (presented via Iphone with some loss of clarity), I’ve lost the research that inspired it. Back then I’d found an obscure book in a militaria bookshop which described how a German long-range reconnaissance unit raced for several days in summer heat in 1942 across dusty empty steppe, following the 300 mile recently-laid Stalingrad/Astrakhan single-line railroad.
Astrakhan lies on the Volga delta which empties into the Caspian Sea, roughly 400 miles north along the shoreline from Baku. The German strategy was to secure/fortify the line from Stalingrad south east to Astrakhan, thus isolating all the oil-fields to the south. Von Paulus’ Sixth Army reached Stalingrad late August 1942, sending this reconnaissance unit onwards towards Astrakhan. After neutralising Stalingrad in a couple of weeks, the main force would naturally follow.
By mid-September 1942 the unit stopped at a tiny railway station, having sighted Astrakhan in the far distance. Inside the deserted station building they used the phone to call Astrakhan to enquire when the next train was due. Receiving an obscene reply, they decided to withdraw at speed all the way back to Stalingrad, due to depleted fuel & water reserves. This was the furthest east Operation Barbarossa ever reached.
I’m not aware that any contemporaneous photos (or newsreels) of this adventure survived Stalingrad - probably no participants either, the report likely transmitted back to HQ. Anyhow here are the technicolour versions…
Experts will notice some panzer uniforms are likely out of place, and no doubt there are other (hopefully minor) inaccuracies. But I’m really hoping someone can identify the unit insignia which I believed was correct at the time. The Panzer grey(s) are absolutely accurate of course …and if ever there was justification for pointing Germans, this was it.
It is nice work, the B/W pic’s sells it really well. There is a line or two in Paul Carrel’s Stalingrad Book that mentions the race for the Caspian Sea. He labelled it “the missing Battalion”. Meaning there was no more reinforcements for the patrol.
Another interesting diorama subject in a sort of related way, and one I always found interesting, was the 23 members of the German 1st Mountain Division going to climb Mt Elbrus on the way to trying to seize what is modern day Sochi.
I also can’t read through something like the attachment @phil2015 added without wanting to again (for the 47th time!) read Fitzroy Macleans’s book, ‘Eastern Approaches’ which is a fantastic account of exploring that part of the world. I think Maclean didn’t get to Astrakhan as he went from Moscow to Baku on his first exploration attempt then was on the Central Asia side of the Caspian Sea on his second attempt.
Thanks guys, much appreciated. I was looking at my old models the other day and wondered why nobody’s tackled those grey armoured cars in a diorama here…as far as I’m aware. Which led to unearthing those old photos etc. It’s high time someone did better.
Thanks Phil – that’s not the account I found which was far briefer…and possibly more factual. Paul Carrell’s version might be accurate but the amount of fine detail begins to raise suspicions – he was, after all, von Ribbentrop’s chief press spokesman, committed Nazi (and post war neo-Nazi) and an apologist for the Holocaust. For more: Paul Carell - Wikipedia
The account I found was in a small volume called something like “The Nazis and the Oil” or maybe Caucasus was in there somewhere. Anyway I think my own text was fairly accurate, given I was relying on my 28 year-old memory, compared to Carrell’s (probably embellished) version.
Thanks Sam – yes it does appear to be the 16th Inf (mot) insignia & Carrell’s account does identify it as such. And I too recall reading accounts of the scaling of Mt. Elbrus, I think the participants were subsequently seriously scolded by their uber-CO and may even have had their pips torn off. Anywhere else it would’ve been “For you, ze Russian front”…but they were already there.
Only just caught up with this Tim; the black & white pics sort of suckered me in - thinking that they were 1/1 scale! Brilliant work and the positioning of the figures is what does it for me. Isn’t it always the figures that bring things to life? I moan about having to convert so many but they are essential almost.
Good effort by the Wehrmacht to get as far as they did on that expedition, but I am minded of a T shirt purportedly worn (briefly) by the Bundeswehr when deployed in Afghanistan, sporting the slogan:
“Grandpa never got this far east”
which I think is bloody funny; others may disagree(!)
A great piece and a great story to go with it- what more could you ask for in a dio! As others have said- the black and white photos really show this off so well- but I like the color shots too- the way you have photographed them reminds me a little of the old color film you sometimes see of the German invasion- the bright sunlight, endless sky, dust over everything and the dull grey of the uniforms and vehicles taking centre stage. The way you have positioned the vehicles and posed the troops works so well too- some looking into the distance while others are engaged in maintenance and re-supply- exactly as you would expect from such a gathering at a stop in a long patrol.
Thanks Brian & yes, figures – they can make or break a scene. The bane of most of our hobbying aspirations, but without them it’s just a stage set. Mine look fairly clunky now but this was 1997, I doubt any of them would make the cut if I did it again…hmm, come to think of it there’s only a piece of plywood & sacks of filler & sand stopping me doing just that….hmm….
Thanks Karl much appreciated, and yes you picked up on what I was trying to achieve, like those Signal Agfa-film shots. Following on from what I just replied to Brian, I’ve got more photo-doctoring tools these days to get even closer maybe.
@Dioramartin, hi Tim - unhappily, I can’t add to the discussion regarding the history of this event, but am willing to say that your diorama looks great. I particularly like the second picture from the top - it is very convincing. I think I prefer the black and white version a bit more than the color, because it doesn’t pick up the tiny amount out shine on the soldiers pants (of all things). Great project -
…and if ever there was justification for pointing Germans, this was it.
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