Zvezda 1/35 Soviet JS-2

Here's my Zvezda 1/35 JS-2. I'm not sure how accurate this kit is but it was fun to build.

Elefant in Italy?

Can anyone help?
I am presuming this Elefant met its end somewhere in Italy but other than that I don't know anything about this photograph. Maybe the photo is original maybe from a book or a copy. I don't know.
Anyone got any ideas about where this photo might have been taken and what unit the Elefant was from?
Thanks

Reichskommissariat Ostland Part II

In the first three weeks of Operation Barbarossa the German Wehrmacht had overrun most of Lithuania and two provinces of Latvia (Kurzeme and Zemgale). By September 1 1941 the remaining provinces of Latvia (Latgale and Vidzeme) would be occupied. Although under the nominal control of the German Wehrmacht numerous administrative entities had an input into the running of the occupied territories including the SS and police, agricultural ministry, Göring's Four Year Plan staff and, of course, the Nazi Party itself. From the very beginning, despite the optimistic views of Latvian nationalists, the Nazi administration had no intention of granting the slightest degree of independence to the Baltic States. The occupying Nazis soon set about dismantling all forms of nationalist expression and statehood. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would cease to exist. Germanic names and concepts were imposed upon the provinces and replacements for any terms that suggested statehood were devised. Reichskommissariat Ostland came into official existence on July 16 1941 although it was only publicly announced on November 18 1941. It is thought that Hitler wanted to announcement of the new province to coincide with the fall of Leningrad or Moscow.

The idea of a Reichskommissariat Ostland belonged to Alfred Rosenberg. Rosenberg's plan was to create four provinces from the captured lands in the East. Due to the military situation only two were actually created (Ostland and Ukraine). Although the overall Ostland concept was Rosenberg's (he had once held a certain influence over Hitler but that time had past) it would be a mistake to give him too much credit. Hitler disdained Rosenberg's pseudo-mythical philosophy as expounded in Rosenberg's opus "The Myth of the Twentieth Century". In the struggle for Hitler's favor and for resources that made up the machinations of the Third Reich consisted of complex myriad of satraps who aggressively competed for power. Against the likes of Borman, Himmler and Göring, the incompetent and dreaming Rosenberg was easily overcome.

The Ostland administration was typically Byzantine. A number of competing departments had control in various parts of the government in the East. This approach appealed to Hitler's style of management - always keeping the satraps feuding amongst themselves, matching their powers against each other and maintaining a sense of vagueness to his orders and wishes. The high ranking Nazis had to interpret his wishes and act upon them as they saw fit, hoping that the Führer would be pleased.

The Baltics and their governance divided many of the top Nazis. Indeed the whole concept of Ostland was troublesome for the Nazis. Many, particularly in the army, saw Ostland as a bulwark, a frontier state, against the onslaught of Bolshevism (which would be pushed over the Urals) – its racially valuable elements to be ready to repel the invaders. And indeed this area had been Germanized for centuries and the Balts seemed viable candidates to be fully-fledged allies. For others - particularly Hitler, Borman and Rosenberg - there was to be no part in a Nazi future for the Balts. All attempts had cultivating nationalist/collaborative elements were rejected (even when large numbers of Balts were eager to fight against the oncoming Soviets). According to Hitler RK Ostland was to be cleansed, creating land for a new wave of ethnic Germans who would then become the occupants of the Baltic lands.

The Nazi administrators allowed at least the appearance of input from the Latvians. This was done purely to advance the Nazi agenda by appeasing Latvian nationalists. There was a duality of administrative structures: in Latvia, German and Latvian, but the Latvians lacked any real control. For example, the Germans nominated all appointees and the lowliest German official was of higher rank than higher ups in the Latvian administration. Both Estonia and Lithuanian had powerless collaborative councils while this area of Byelorussia did not have even the sham of an indigenous government.

My Ebay Presence

Just a quick and shameless plug to let everyone know that I also trade on Ebay as Historica Books & models. A slightly different inventory with something for the whole family!
Historica Books & Models
Enjoy!

Games Workshop Rhino conversion

This is a games Workshop Rhino that I have converted to a Heavy Assault Engineer Vehicle.
The conversion is nearly all plastic sheet and rod with some 1/35 pieces from the extras box.

Reichskommissariat Ostland
The so-called Reichskommissariat Ostland was made up of the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) together with the rump of Byelorussia with which the Baltic States had nothing in common. While German’s racial experts saw some promise in the Germanized and Nordic Estonians, the Latvians were seen as less so (Hitler took a personal dislike to them). The Lithuanians were even more corrupted by Bolshevism and the Jews. Byelorussia was seen as little more than a dumping ground for those with the least racially to offer. In the long term Byelorussia was to be cleansed (emptied) and its lands given to the new breed of Aryan warrior-farmers.

The conquest of the East was central to the worldview of Adolf Hitler. Hitler intended to use the East as the British had used India: as an endless reservoir of resources and as living space for an enlarged Third Reich. For Hitler it was simply irrelevant that this land was already populated with millions of people. Hitler viewed this population as "sub humans". They would be driven to the east, enslaved or simply annihilated. The Nazi leadership did not see the need for a long-term plan for their newly conquered spaces of Russia as they were to emptied/enslaved.

The Baltic States lay at a strategic crossroads. For centuries the Norsemen, the Germans, the Russians, the Poles and the Lithuanians had attempted to conquer this area at some point. But it was the Germans and the Russians who had the most to gain and the most to lose by holding/losing the Baltics. This was never more so than in the Twentieth century.

The Germans had been influential in the area since 1180 with the establishment of merchant outposts. Subsequently the predominately German Teutonic Knights encroached and ruled over vast swaths of the Baltic region. Indeed it was the German elite that held on to power up until the Bolshevik Revolution. Even as late as WWI the Germans controlled much of the area until 1920.

The Russians had long claimed the Baltics as their gateway to Europe and it was the Russians who had finally defeated the Teutonic Knights at Novgorod. In the Twentieth Century despite recognizing the Baltics as independent states the Bolsheviks continued to subvert states rights.

Regardless of the case to be made for the two superpowers, and much to their chagrin, all three Baltic States had long and often violent traditions of independence and nationalism. Despite the two major powers signing a non-aggression pact (in which the Soviets were given a free hand in the Baltics in exchange for western Poland) both were troubled by the other's presence.

But it was Hitler who was to strike first....

The conquest of the East was central to the worldview of Adolf Hitler. Hitler intended to use the East as the British had used India: as an endless reservoir of resources and as living space for an enlarged Third Reich. For Hitler it was simply irrelevant that this land was already populated with millions of people. Hitler viewed this population as "sub humans". They would be driven to the east, enslaved or simply annihilated. The Nazi leadership did not see the need for a long-term plan for their newly conquered spaces of Russia as they were to emptied/enslaved. The conquered lands were to be divided into four commissariats. Unfortunately due to the failure of conquest only two were created: Ostland and Ukraine. European Russia would become a patchwork of Nazi administrations whose sole agenda, built upon deeply rooted racial hatred, would be to "process" the inhabitants.

Photo: Bovington Tiger I
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