Bolt Action: Western Desert Boot Camp Live Blog - Saturday
Legends Of The Desert - Germans & Free French
Sep 29 2018 @ 20:30
36 Comments
Oriskany continues his Legends of the Desert series, telling us some of the amazing stories and incredible people who took part in the conflicts in the western desert.
This time, we find out about some of the legends of the German forces, as well as the Free French Forces who fought.
A humber on the cover, just where it needs to be! See Rommel was an angle :S
Very cool to see the hero’s.
Looking forward to seeing the rest of the Boot Camp
@rot6 – Rommel was definitely better than most. Then again, he never had to “get dirty” in Russia. That was another whole war out there …
Thank0s, @elessar2590! Gotta put a human face on the history.
@oriskany nooooo he would have 10000% been perfect in that war too. stalingrad under rommel pff, execution of prisoners of war paaaah,… rommel was perfect 😉
Its sad how few ppl are aware of how big the effect of german propaganda still is in effect today. Panther and Tiger “supertanks”, Rommel “flawless general”, wehrmacht “without guilt” -.-
I would agree with that @rot6 , but it’s also British “propaganda” as well – or at least post-war writings. One way to amp up the accomplishments and potency of your armies is to make a big deal about your enemy, especially if you’re losing to him. Talk about how powerful your enemy is, talk about how crafty he is (the “Desert Fox” nickname I think was a British invention) … it sort of “excuses” your setbacks and ups the stock of any victories you manage to score. And of course after the war the British somehow sought to lionize… Read more »
never thought about the propaganda from that (british) perspective as means to polish up the vicotry further. Guess the “no clean soldiers” is part of the reason why we find joy in the small, nocasualty encounters that were just plain wierd.
Agree 100%. 😀
Could be cool in friendly games to make some special characters with re-reolls or abilities
very interesint info
Thanks, @tericova.
@patrickkyle82 – I’m sure you could have “enhanced” characters that do extremely well in scenario-based play … if you make these units cost more points as a counterbalance.
Very cool to hear things that I didn’t know. Keep up the good work!
There’s a battle with the Free French (and some Australians) in Syria and Lebanon where there’s French Foreign Legion troops fighting each other on BOTH sides (the other Foreign Legion troops are fighting for Vichy France). Might have been the Battle of Kissoué (but that’s from memory). The whole theatre in the middle east is usually ignored as the campaigns weren’t that long, but they were the site of some particularly fierce and bitter fighting.
Thanks very much, @tibour. 😀 Indeed, @phaidknott – Free and Vichy French forces actually came to blows and fought pretty hard against each other during the invasion of Syria in 1941 (Operation Exporter). There’s also Free French fighting in the extreme south of Libya (hundreds of miles from these coastal battles), expeditions through Chad, Operation Ironclad to invade Vichy French Madagascar, invasions of Vichy colonies in West Africa, and an uprising in Iraq … to say nothing of TWO FULL CAMPAIGNS in the Horn of Africa (Eritrea, Somalia, modern Ethiopia, etc). That fighting in Madagascar is the one of only… Read more »
another interesting video
Yay! the free French get mentioned! 😀
Thanks @normandyfan.
Indeed @dukeexeter – we’re trying to cover as many nationalities as we can here, a case we’ve been hammering literally for weeks now has been how diverse these armies were.
I should also mention that two battalions of FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION were fighting with the GERMANS – that’s the 361st Afrika Regiment of the 90th Light Division (still called the Afrika Division at the time, I think).
héros on both sides
I do like to hear this type of story
Very true @wilco92 and @lawnor.
Jim does know a lot about this campaign
I do like Rommel, not because of his fame or strategies, but because he was basically just a soldier fighting for what was best for Germany.
Thanks very much, @collins.
@armachan – indeed he was – I would just add that there were actually quite a few of these, Rommel is just the most famous.
Try to catch up.
Good luck. 😀 The amount of content these guys cranked out for this boot camp was incredible!
I’ve heard of Bir Hakeim before, but should really read up on it.
Great stories coming out alongside the gaming – this has been one of the highlights of the weekend for me.
There are some great websites, @mrtn where you can quickly get the basics, and probably find sources for deeper reading if you are interested.
Thanks very much, @georgesealy! 😀
Good on Rommel for round filing that order.
very interesting to find out something new is such a treat.
Agreed, @khy0te. 😀
Thanks very much, @radegast6.
a good story to hear.
These stories are all very interesting.
Thanks, @zorg and @fireblarney! 😀
The history is a much-appreciated bit of flavor for already stellar coverage.
Cool
Thanks very much, @falerox and daverouge1. Indeed the OTT/BoW Team has been crushing out TONS of awesome content for this event!