1:32 German Paratrooper Mortar Team in tropical uniform (WWII)

The mortar with airborne units

Airborne infantry could not afford artillery in the usual sense, and so the mortar became the center of gravity of its fire support. It could be broken down into three loads, the crew numbered three to four men and in mountainous or wooded terrain it could reach where direct fire did not. The squad consisted of the gunner at the baseplate, the loader and the ammunition carriers, who lay a short distance away with the crates. The accuracy of the fire, however, stood and fell with the observer, who reported the fall of the rounds back to the position.

Why the tropical version of the uniform

The qualifier refers to the Mediterranean and North Africa. German airborne units operated there from the landing on Crete in May 1941, later in the desert at El Alamein and then in Sicily and in Italy. The tropical version of the jump smock was sewn from a lighter cotton in an olive brown shade, the helmet was given a cloth cover and the boots were of canvas with leather parts. The lighter tone sets them apart from the European form at first glance. Desert dust, moreover, bleached the cloth to a hint of sand within a few weeks.

Setting the crew up on a base

The crew makes sense only as a whole, so place the figures in relation to one another: one looking into the distance, the other holding a mortar round over the muzzle. Mix the sand around them from two grades of coarseness, otherwise the surface looks like sandpaper. Finally add a touch of dust on the shins and on the lower edges of the crates. Leave at least one crate open; a closed one tells the viewer nothing.