Hi all
here I would like to share with you a work I started back in 2008, a long time a go…
Involved is a L6/40 italian light tank, used by german troops after italian armistice during the 2nd World War.
The Kočevje village is located in southern Slovenija, it has always been a german enclave, most of the citizens had german origin, back to the 14th century, it was named Gottschee, it was a mining town.
In 2nd World War the Jugoslavian territory was split between Germany, Italy and Hungary, and the town was incorporated in the Province of Ljubljana under italian government, but after 8th september 1943 all went under german command, the whole Slovenija, was part of the Operations Zone Adriatisches Küstenland.
Kočevje was attacked by three brigades (1st “Tone Tomsič”, 2nd “Ljubo Serčer” and 13th “Loška”) of the 14th [Slovenian] Partisan Division under the command of Lt. Mirko Bračič at midnight on 9th December 1943. The attack was supported by artillery and mortars, whereupon the infantry followed and broke into the city, the partisans quickly managed to capture the village, but the remnats of the German-Domobran garrison retreated into the Gotschee Castle, where it was protected by its thick walls.
It remained there until 12th December 1943, when two German relief columns formed by elements of the 162 (Turk.) division and the 13th Verst.Pol.Pz.Kp. came from Ljubljana , broke the partisan encirclement and rescued the besieged garrison. The city was almost demolished and most civilian population gone, therefore I did not overdo with the furniture inside the house.
The scene portraits the moment when the relief force entres the city on 12 december 1943, as portrayed in the pictures.
The project started by these two pictures taken from the book “Panzer units
in the Operationszone Adriatisches Küstenland 1943-1945” author Stefano di Giusto, wich inspired me and I started to work on the Model Victoria kit, wich is a real gem.
I was lucky as I found several pictures of the house in the background, before, during and after the battle, so I decided to give it a try.
So, stop talking, here are the pictures, enjoy and feel free to add your comments, sorry for the bad quality of the pictures, I took them with my phone.
Cheers
Alessandro