Barcode: 0 89195 86477 2
Case Pack: 48 pieces per case
Box Size: 6.4" x 10.2" x 1.5"
The 20th Waffen Grenadier Division, consisting mostly of forced
draftees from Estonia, was formed in the spring of 1944. This division
took part in German efforts to halt the Baltic Offensive initiated by
the Red Army in September-November of 1944. This massive Soviet effort
penetrated through to the Baltic Sea and succeeded in permanently
splitting the land connection between the German Army Group Center and
Army Group North. As well as expelling German forces from Estonia and
Lithuania, the rolling series of offensives trapped a large number of
German troops in Latvia.
Recognizing that Army Group North had been permanently cut off, it
was renamed Army Group Courland. The Red Army progressively reduced
this Courland Pocket in Latvia, and 200,000 remaining German soldiers
were captured there at the end of the war. The Baltic Offensive
resulted in a total of 260,000 casualties from both sides.
Dragon’s newest 1/35 figure set depicts four soldiers from the 20th
Waffen Grenadier Division fighting in this fierce campaign. Reflecting
the desperate battle of survival as they defend their Estonian homeland
against hordes of infantry and T-34 tanks, these soldiers wield a range
of weapons such as a Kar98 with grenade launcher, Panzerfaust, MP-40,
G41(W) semi-automatic rifle, Geballte Ladung concentrated charge
(grenade bundle) and even a Molotov cocktail. To protect against the
onset of the Baltic winter, these conscripts are wearing heavy parkas.
The poses are vivid and novel, and they capture the desperate nature of
the fighting. Whether in muddy trenches or amidst wrecked T-34 tanks,
these figures will fit well in a variety of wintry late-war scenarios.
