The Korsun Pocket, also known as the battle of Cherkassy, saw 60,000 German troops endure grueling conditions in the late winter of January and February 1944 as they fought off encirclement. With numerous German divisions broken in the fighting, the losses in the Korsun Pocket sapped away the German offensive strength in the Ukraine and contributed to the success of later Soviet offensives. "Hell's Gate" by Douglas Nash's provides a day-by-day account of the struggle, which culminated in many of the German troops risking the torrents of the Gniloy Tickich river to escape the Red Army.

Contents

This is the first ‘Generation 2’ figure set from Dragon (the commander in the Tiger I late is also Gen 2) and represents a considerable level of innovation over traditional injection plastic figures. Each figure’s body is made up from approximately 12 parts as opposed to 6 or so for traditional 1/35 figures. Key innovations are that the face is separate from the back of the head with the join positioned at the helmet strap, for five of the figures, to hide it, an approach which allows the face to be painted separately. The upper torso is split into front and back and the feet and hands are now individual parts, which fit into recesses on the arms and legs. Apart from allowing the hands to be painted separately, this design allows the arms to be painted attached to the body giving a consistent finish and for the inside of cuffs to be more readily painted. While no alternative hands are included, this approach offers potential benefits in modifying figures.

Each figure is sculptured to a high standard as evident in the crisp detail, combination of accuracy and variety in the uniforms which are appropriate for the winter of 1943/45 (the figures could also be used for the winter of 44/45) and that each face is expressive and lifelike. The boots have hobnail studs on the soles and the uniforms realistic creases, folds and tears. Ron Volstad’s box art accurately depicts the uniforms colours as worn by the Wehrmacht and the muddied appearance of these uniform in the Russian winter

The poses are:

• Two men are lying down serving the MG42. What I particularly like about this pair is that they are loading the MG, which conveys more animation and urgency than the traditional poses of having them firing the gun. Both soldiers wear the M1942 reversible winter parka with matching padded trousers and winter boots introduced for the winter of 42/43 and used until war’s end.
• One standing man is firing a captured Russian submachine gun and is also wearing a reversible winter parka and over trousers, which for 1943/44 accurately have the horizontal stitching around the knees.
• Another standing rifleman is firing the standard issue Kar98 carbine and is wearing an enlisted man trench coat with the cheaper plain field grey collar. He is also wearing Y-straps with full kit and a pair of filzstiefel, which were winter boots made from heavy felt and leather.
• The man holding the MP40 with a M43 field cap, also wears padded reversible trousers and winter boots, but has a custom made fur lined jacket over his field tunic. He wears an iron cross on his collar.
• The sixth soldier is kneeling and throwing a stick grenade while holding a Kar98 in the other hand. He too wears padded reversible trousers and winter boots, but his upper body is only protected from the cold by a M1942 field tunic which has the characteristic flat chest pocket flaps and a lack of pleats on the tunic pockets.

New Photo Etch and Personal Field Equipment

Two new generic PE frets each containing approximately 48 parts and designed for 4 men are included giving parts for up to 8 men with plenty of spares. The frets contain a mix of shoulder boards, belt buckles, insignia and awards such as the iron cross and various assault badges.

Two new generic sprues contain assorted personal field equipment. One sprue in the same hard plastic as the figures contains the helmets, M1931 canteen (cook pot) and lid of which two are hollow, gas mask case with hollowed out center and separate lids, entrenching tool, binoculars and flask with separate cap. The other sprue is in a softer plastic and contains assorted ammunition pouches of which some have open pouches, 8 x bread bags, pistol holders, map case, 8 x clothing bag and 4 x rolled blanket.

New Weapons Sprues

In keeping with the Generation 2 emphasis on detail, the hand weapons are all new tooling and the four sprues for the German weapons appear to have been designed for use in later sets. These weapons are noticeably better than those in Dragon’s previous figure sets, so the spares will be much welcomed.

One sprue contains a pair of standard issue Kar98 rifles which have separate bolts, with the option of having the bolt mechanism pulled back or not; or alternatively stripped for use in say a diorama. The muzzle end of these rifles has been hollowed out. A dozen 5 round ammunition clips are provided. No slings are provided, so some lead foil may come handy.

The second sprue provides a pair of MP40 sub-machine guns, with separate upper detail and one separate folding stock, plus several spare magazines. Also one this sprue is a Sturmgewehr 44 assault rife with two spare magazines and a Gewehr 43 semi-automatic rifle with separate optional parts for the bolt mechanism.

The last tow generic weapon sprues are for the MG42 machine gun in light mode, which looks particularly impressive. The use of slide mold design has allowed Dragon to depict the perforations on both the sides and top of the barrel jacket, unlike most injection plastic MG42s, which only have the side perforations. The hinged feed cover can be positioned close (as is the norm) or open as per this figure set and an open ammunition box is provided, along with two closed boxes (separate handles included) and four rounds of drum ammunition. The two lengths of belt ammunition have crisply defined bullets, but seem marginally over-scale compared to the rest of the set. A choice of folded or open (in action) bipods is provided.

A Russian PPSh 41 sub machine gun is provided as part of one of the figure sprues and also has crisp detail including that for its distinctive jacket perforations.

Recommendation

“Desperate Defense” contains numerous innovations in the design of the figures and weapons which make it the most impressive injection plastic figure set I have seen. The poses are well animated, the uniforms historically accurate for the winter of 43/45, and the attention to small detail in the sculpturing, particularly for the weapons and field kit, is better than many resin figures. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Dragon Models for the review sample.

Review and photos by Neville Lord.

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