May 2015


WELCOME to one of the biggest, and I hope best, month of releases in the history of “DISPATCHES”…this year!

As you will see there are a few “holdovers” from April that appear in here as well as plenty of new ones.  So, let’s get this show on the road…

BEING RELEASED THIS MONTH…

1. ""STREETS OF OLD HONG KONG" SEES TWO SMALL, BUT INTERESTING, LITTLE SETS COMING OUT..."

New Bride & Groom (Gloss)

HK235G "New Bride & Groom (Gloss)"

As the new 20th Century began fashions and styles also began to change...even in China. Our stylish young Groom (with short Western hair-style) stands next to his blushing new bride.

New Bride & Groom (Matt)

HK235M "New Bride & Groom (Matt)"

As the new 20th Century began fashions and styles also began to change...even in China. Our stylish young Groom (with short Western hair-style) stands next to his blushing new bride.

A Small Pack of Dogs (Gloss)

HK239G "A Small Pack of Dogs (Gloss)"

Four little hounds that help make any scene come alive!

A Small Pack of Dogs (Matt)

HK239M "A Small Pack of Dogs (Matt)"

Four little hounds that help make any scene come alive!

AVAILABILITY: Now!

2. "SOMEWHERE ON THE WESTERN FRONT..."

We return to…

FW_01

A Soldier’s Prayer

FW158 "A Soldier’s Prayer"

A British Army Padre reads a simple prayer over the dead body of a fallen “Tommy”.

The design of the dead soldier was inspired by a similar figure which can be seen on the powerful Royal Artillery Memorial near London’s Hyde Park.

During the Great War, three Army chaplains won the Victoria Cross, Britain’s highest award for gallantry and 179 were killed-in-action.

Hold On Son, We’re Almost There!

FW163 "Hold On Son, We’re Almost There!"

A British Army medical orderly is assisted by a soldier to carry a badly wounded “Tom” back to the nearest Aid Station situated in or close behind the actual front line position.

Nursing Sister

FW173 "Nursing Sister"

Between 1914 and 1918 over 10,000 regular and reserve members of Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service were at work in France, the Middle East, Italy, East Africa and India. Wherever they went they were easily recognized by their grey and white uniforms and scarlet red capes. This nurse is typical.

Rescue Under Fire

FW200 "Rescue Under Fire"

Even though the battle still rages above their heads one “Tommy” has crawled into “No Man’s Land” to try and pull a wounded mate to safety...

AVAILABILITY: Now!

German Casualties of War

FW186 "German Casualties of War"

For these three fallen “Soldaten” their war and suffering is over...

Spoils Of War

FW201 "Spoils Of War"

Two abandoned “Maschinengewehr 08” or MG08’s were the German Army’s standard machine gun during World War One. Adapted from the original 1884 “Maxim” gun these weapons were widely used on all fronts the Kaiser’s Army fought on...with deadly effect.

Their nominal range was 2,000 meters although they could be deadly up to 3,500 meters!

Allied troops hated them with a vengeance because of the huge casualties they inflicted. If and when these guns were overrun attacking soldiers would often, without hesitation, kill the gun crews, even if they tried to surrender!

These two guns fit perfectly with set no. FW186.

AVAILABILITY: Now!

3. "AWAY ALL BOATS"

From the mud and blood of the Western Front in 1916/17 we journey back to another campaign on the Middle Eastern Front in April 1915…”GALLIPOLI” and the ANZAC landings.

On the morning of April 25, 1915, British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops landed on the beaches and coves of the Gallipoli Peninsula in the Turkish Dardanelles.

Their purpose was to capture the Peninsula and force Turkey, a German ally, out of the war.  Another of the Allied aims was to open up a sea passage to Russia that would allow the British and French to send arms and ammunition to the armies of the Czar.

Alas, like many “best laid plans” it later came unstuck but on that first morning all seemed to be going well…

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The Gallipoli Whale Boat

GA008 "The Gallipoli Whale Boat"

ANZAC (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps) troops were ferried ashore from the transport ships by a fleet of wooden life boats and whale boats manned by Royal Navy personnel. Some were towed behind steam launches*others were rowed ashore by “Matelots” (sailors).

Our K&C waterline “Whale Boat” comes complete with a Naval cox’n at the tiller and can accommodate up to 24 seated soldiers.

*SPECIAL NOTE:      A Royal Navy Steam Launch will be released later this year as well as sailors to “man” the oars.

Sitting Anzac Single (New South Wales)

GA009-NSW "Sitting Anzac Single (New South Wales)"

A single seated Australian soldier with full fighting order, backpack and Lee Enfield Rifle. Available with a choice of New South Wales... Queensland and South Australia Shoulder patches representing the 1st ., 9th., and 12th. Infantry Btns. Respectively.

Sitting Anzac Single (Queensland)

GA009-Q "Sitting Anzac Single (Queensland)"

A single seated Australian soldier with full fighting order, backpack and Lee Enfield Rifle. Available with a choice of New South Wales... Queensland and South Australia Shoulder patches representing the 1st ., 9th., and 12th. Infantry Btns. Respectively.

Sitting Anzac Single (Tasmania, South & Western Australia)

GA009-SA "Sitting Anzac Single (Tasmania, South & Western Australia)"

A single seated Australian soldier with full fighting order, backpack and Lee Enfield Rifle. Available with a choice of New South Wales... Queensland and South Australia Shoulder patches representing the 1st ., 9th., and 12th. Infantry Btns. Respectively.

Sitting Anzacs Set #1 (New South Wales)

GA010-NSW "Sitting Anzacs Set #1 (New South Wales)"

A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. With a choice of the same Battalion shoulder patches as above.

Sitting Anzacs Set #1 (Queensland)

GA010-Q "Sitting Anzacs Set #1 (Queensland)"

A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. With a choice of the same Battalion shoulder patches as above.

Sitting Anzacs Set #1 (Tasmania, South & Western Australia)

GA010-SA "Sitting Anzacs Set #1 (Tasmania, South & Western Australia)"

A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. With a choice of the same Battalion shoulder patches as above.

Sitting Anzacs Set #2 (New South Wales)

GA011-NSW "Sitting Anzacs Set #2 (New South Wales)"

A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. One wearing the slouch hat. The other field service cap. With a choice of the Battalion shoulder patches.

Sitting Anzacs Set #2(Queensland)

GA011-Q "Sitting Anzacs Set #2(Queensland)"

A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. One wearing the slouch hat. The other field service cap. With a choice of the Battalion shoulder patches.

Sitting Anzacs Set #2  (Tasmania, South & Western Australia)

GA011-SA "Sitting Anzacs Set #2 (Tasmania, South & Western Australia)"

A pair of seated Australian soldiers kitted out as above. One wearing the slouch hat. The other field service cap. With a choice of the Battalion shoulder patches.

SPECIAL NOTE:       When ordering any of these sitting ANZACS be sure to put after the code number your battalion preference i.e. “GA009-NSW equals “A sitting ANZAC soldier with the 1st New South Wales shoulder patch.”

AVAILABILITY: Now!

4. "FROM GALLIPOLI TO DOWNING ST."

By a strange coincidence the man who in 1915 was largely responsible for promoting the Gallipoli expedition was none other than Winston Churchill!

By May 1940, the once disgraced Churchill had now become Britain’s wartime prime minister and the man who helped save Britain in its darkest hour after the Fall of France.

"BLITZ" CHURCHILL

DD271 ""BLITZ" CHURCHILL"

During even the heaviest German bombing of Britain in 1940 and 1941 Churchill became a welcome and heartening visitor to many bomb-shattered cities and towns the length and breadth of the island nation.

Here he is stepping out with his “tin bowler” (steel helmet) on and his gasmask haversack over one shoulder...the famous cigar in his mouth.

AVAILABILITY: Now!

5. "HITLER’S FINAL DAYS"

From Britain’s darkest hour and possibly its finest in 1940 and ’41 to Germany’s darkest days in April and May 1945…

Hitler’s “Thousand-Year” Reich has barely lasted just 12…British, American and Russian armies are already thrusting deep into the German heartland.  In the West, hundreds of thousands of Wehrmacht soldiers are surrendering…In the East the Soviets are already battling their way into Berlin and fighting street-by-street, house-by-house.

In the “Führerbunker” in the bomb-damaged Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler prepares for the worst…

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Dead German Soldaten

WS294 "Dead German Soldaten"

Four fallen Wehrmacht infantrymen who will fight no more...

Hitler’s Last Parade

WS312 "Hitler’s Last Parade"

A special 5-figure set based on actual newsreel and photo images of a little ceremony that took place on Hitler’s 56th birthday on 20th April 1945 in the ruins of the Reich Chancellery garden. Here Hitler greets a small group of Hitlerjugend boys who have been decorated for bravery in the recent fighting in Berlin.

Slowly and deliberately he goes down the line talking to each boy in turn. By his side is Arthur Axmann, the HJ leader. Completing the set are 3 of the young fighters.

Hitler's Bunker

WS313 "Hitler's Bunker"

Not the entire complex of the “Führerbunker” you understand...Most of it was deep underground...But here you see part of the upper entranceway from where Hitler emerged for the last time on his birthday to greet the Hitlerjugend boys.

The triangular shaped structure has already suffered from both Allied bombing and Soviet Shelling...its pockmarked reinforced concrete surface is testament to that.

On one side is another entrance way and an iron ladder leading to the roof.

Führerbunker Ventilation Tower

WS314 "Führerbunker Ventilation Tower"

This cylindrical concrete tower provided fresh air to the underground complex and like the Führerbunker itself has suffered from both bombing and shelling.

SS Bunker Bodyguards

WS315 "SS Bunker Bodyguards"

To protect Hitler and the other Nazi Leaders in the bunker a small detachment of SS was provided. Our 2-man set shows a pair of SS men armed and on guard duty with MP40 “Schmeisser” Machine Pistols.

Extra Hitlerjugend

WS318 "Extra Hitlerjugend"

To add to the HJ group meeting the Fuhrer for the last time here are two more young fighters.

The young lad wearing the greenish uniform jacket belongs to the Auxiliary Fire Service which recruited volunteers from the Hitlerjugend. In the battle for Berlin they exchanged their firehoses for rifles and panzerfaust anti-tank rockets.

The other young boy is wearing the standard HJ uniform and belongs to the “Special Patrol Service” group who were already trained in small arms even before the desperate days of April and May 1945.

AVAILABILITY: Now!

6. "AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!"

Moving several thousand miles away from bomb-shattered Berlin in 1945 to San Antonio. Texas in 1836 is no mean feat…but we’ve made it anyway.

RTA092_group

The New Alamo Facade

RTA092 "The New Alamo Facade"

This is the 4th or maybe 5th version K&C has made of this legendary facade. It’s a great backdrop for any “Alamo” collection and every “Alamo” collector.

AVAILABILITY: Now!

7. "AND YOU THOUGHT BERLIN WAS FINISHED..."

The Third Reich may have collapsed in well-deserved defeat and ruin in May 1945 but back in the Berlin of the 1930’s it was a whole different story…Back then the Nazis really did believe they were creating a “Thousand-Year Reich” that would live on long after them…How wrong they were!

For the moment the parade marches on…

The Blood Flag Bearer

LAH141 "The Blood Flag Bearer"

The Blood Flag or “Blutfahne” was supposedly carried during Hitler’s failed attempt to overthrow the Bavarian Government in Munich in 1923. It was said to have been stained with the blood of those killed and wounded during a skirmish with the Munich police. Thereafter it was treated like a “Holy Relic” and appeared at all major Nazi functions, parades and events.

For almost 20 years it was only carried by one SS man...Jakob Grimminger who rose from the ranks of the SS to eventually become an SS Standartenführer or the army equivalent of a full Colonel.

Our figure shows Grimminger presenting the flag.

SS Obergruppenfuhrer Von Ribbentrop

LAH180 "SS Obergruppenfuhrer Von Ribbentrop"

Joachim von Ribbentrop was Nazi Germany’s infamous Foreign Minister from 1938-1945. Before that he was a successful businessman and appointed German Ambassador to London in 1936.

Many senior Nazi Party Leaders were given an “Honorary” rank in the SS by Reichsfuhrer Himmler himself.

Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop was one such individual. It is said he took great pride in wearing the black uniform alongwith the medals he had won during the First World War and those awarded to him by the Nazi Party itself.

He was one of the principal defendants at the Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal in 1946...found guilty and subsequently hanged.

The Black Heydrich

LAH181 "The Black Heydrich"

SS-Obergruppenfuhrer Reinhard Heydrich was one of the most feared men in the Nazi Empire and one of the main architects of The Holocaust.

Even Adolf Hitler described him as “The man with the iron heart”. In the SS he was number two to Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler and the founding head of the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) the intelligence gathering organization set up to seek out and destroy any kind of opposition to the Nazi Party...both at home and abroad.

In September 1941 he was appointed Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia, the former Czechoslovakia.

On 27 May 1942 he was attacked and wounded by Czech parachutists sent by the Government in exile in London. He died from his wounds on 4 June 1942. A bloody retribution followed.

This figure shows Heydrich in his prewar black SS uniform.

Reichsminister Albert Speer

LAH182 "Reichsminister Albert Speer"

The last time K&C produced Hitler’s favorite architect he was on an inspection tour of the “Atlantic Wall” defenseworks complete with a Citroen Staff Car and other figures.

So, we thought, let’s do a single figure of the Nazi Minister of Armaments and Chief of Organization TODT, the Civil and Military Engineering Group of the Third Reich.

Speer is here dressed in his winter greatcoat.

After the war he was sentenced at Nuremburg to 20 years in prison for his role in the Nazi regime. Released in 1966 he published two best-selling autobiographical works and died in London while on a visit in 1981.

SA Chief Ernst Rohm

LAH183 "SA Chief Ernst Rohm"

Another of the infamous Nazi “Rogues Gallery” and the leader of the SA (the Sturmabteilung) or “brownshirts”. Formerly a career Army Officer he served throughout WW1 and won the Iron Cross First Class for bravery.

He continued to serve in the post war Reichswehr (German Army) until joining the Nazi Party...A heavy drinker and a notorious homosexual he helped co-found and lead the SA.

Eventually Hitler began to realize that Rohm was becoming too dangerous and too powerful. In 1934. Rohm alongwith many of his top SA leaders were arrested and shot in what became known as “The Night of The Long Knives”.

AVAILABILITY: Now!

SS Sentry

LAH184 "SS Sentry"

Two typical “Algemeine SS” (General Duties) men on sentry duty in the standard black uniform with brown shirt and carrying their K98 Mauser Rifles with fixed bayonets.

SS NCO

LAH185 "SS NCO"

This “standing-at-ease” SS “Scharfuhrer” is in charge of the sentries and armed with a P.08 “Luger” pistol.

Marching SS Men

LAH186 "Marching SS Men"

3-man marching detachment that allows collectors to build up bigger parade displays and dioramas with more modestly-priced sets of 2 and 3 figures.

Marching  SS Officer

LAH187 "Marching SS Officer"

A single “Algemeine SS” officer marching with sword...complements LAH186.

SS Men Present Arms

LAH188 "SS Men Present Arms"

A 3 figure set

SS Officer At Attention

LAH189 "SS Officer At Attention"

The officer, with sword drawn, that accompanies LAH188.

AVAILABILITY: This second batch of “LAH” release will be available LATE MAY/possibly EARLY JUNE.

8. "BEING RETIRED"

General George Washington

AR072 "General George Washington"

Commander-In-Chief of the Continental Army

Guardsman Corporal

AR073 "Guardsman Corporal"

Guardsman Presenting Arms

AR074 "Guardsman Presenting Arms"

Guardsman Marching

AR075 "Guardsman Marching"

Marching Drummer

BR083 "Marching Drummer"

Marching Fifer

BR084 "Marching Fifer"

Marching Officer

BR085 "Marching Officer"

Marching Fusilier

BR086 "Marching Fusilier"

Marching Fusilier

BR087 "Marching Fusilier"

Marching Fusilier

BR088 "Marching Fusilier"

Charging Fusilier

BR089 "Charging Fusilier"

Mtd. Fusilier Officer

BR090 "Mtd. Fusilier Officer"

A full-blown colonel of the 23rd. Royal Welch Fusiliers mounted on his favourite steed and preparing to lead his men into battle.

And that is that for yet another month. In almost 3 weeks I will be in San Antonio for the 9th Annual TEXAS TOY SOLDIER SHOW…It’s going to be a great one and I hope to see quite a few of you there…


Best wishes and... Happy Collecting!

Andy C. Neilson
Co-founder & Creative Director
King & Country