The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 10: Generic 8 Nations Field Forces of General Gaselee's Relief Force

For my first 8 Nations Alliance Field Force to use with The Men Who Would be Kings, I'm focusing on General Sir Alfred Gaselee, GCB, GCIE, second relief expedition. Why? All of the 8 Nations Alliance forces provide variety and color, but I choose this because I already had some figures for the force though I painted some more to add the color and historical makeup of the Alliance.

In the summer of 1900, when the Boxer Uprising in China was at its height, Gaselee was chosen to command the British element in the international expeditionary force, and on 3 July 1900 promoted to major-general. Gaselee was nominally put in charge of the Second Expedition because the Eight-Nation Alliance refused to the allow the Japanese general Yamaguchi Motomi to lead it, even though he was the highest-ranking officer present. As a reward for his services, he was created Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (GCIE) on 24 July 1901.

Here are some of my "generic Field Forces" I'm going to use first with a 24 point limit: 

1. Japanese Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    

    Total: 6 points.

The Japanese had the largest contribution to the 8 Nations Alliance; plus the new Crusader Miniatures look cool.

2. Indian Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

The British were strapped for manpower with the Boer War. Most of the British troops came from India including the 1st Indian Brigade which consisted of the 1st Sikh Infantry Punjab Frontier Force, 24th Punjab Infantry, and the 7th Rajput Infantry. 

3. Austrian-Hungarian Naval Brigade.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

Come on! You knew von Trapp and company would be included!

Gun and crew from Tsuba Miniatures.

4. Russian Artillery.

    Well Drilled Crew: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

The above is actually an Imperial Russian Putilov M1902 76mm quick firing gun which was first used in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905. Close enough for now until I get an older gun.

Total points: 24.

Or . . . 

1. Japanese Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    

    Total: 6 points.

Figures from Copplestone Castings.

2. Russian Infantry Unit.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Poor Shots: -1 point. Russian firing doctrine emphasized volley fire and not individual marksmanship.

    Unenthusiastic: -1 point. Infantry were conscripts from the East Siberian Regiment and were not quite up to Western (and Japanese) standards.

    Total: 4 points.

The above is my version of the The Izmaylovsky Lifeguards Regiment circa 1905. Evantually I will get some earlier Russian infantry for the Boxer Rebellion.

3. Austrian-Hungarian Naval Brigade.

    Regular Infantry: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

4. 1st Bengal Lancers.

    Regular Cavalry: 6 points.

    Lancers: +2 points.

Total: 8 points.

The 8 Nations Alliance did not have a lot of cavalry and the 1st Bengal Lancers did yeoman service. The above are Perry Miniatures painted as the The 10th (The Duke of Cambridge's) Bengal Lancers (Hodson's Horse) and they will do the trick.

Total points: 24.

So far that's what I'm doing though eventually I will have some troops for Admiral Seymour's relief attempt, the follow-up expeditions after Peking was captured, and the Legation defense.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 7: The Austrian-Hungarian Naval Ground Contingent

 So why do the smallest contingent of the 8 Nations Alliance? I blame the von Trapp Family Singers.

As regular readers of my blog know, while recovering from foot surgery (hmmm . . . how long was I in the infantry?) I watched the movie The von Trapp Family: A Life of Music based on Agathe von Trapp's memoir (the oldest daughter), Memories Before and After The Sound of Music. Researching Captain von Trapp's military career I discovered: HOLY COW!!! HE WAS DECORATED FOR BRAVERY AS A NAVAL CADET DURING THE BOXER REBELLION! Thus a project was born.

The complete, 12 figure unit to use with The Men Who Would be Kings.

The figures are from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range and are Russian Naval Command and Russian Navy Sailors.  During this time, depending on the area and the region of service, many naval uniforms were similar and at the 28 mm scale the differences are so minor that it does not even matter. For example, you can use British Naval Brigade with Sennet hats for French Navy during the Seymour Expedition as that is what the French sailors wore. For the Legation defense, specifically the Peitang Cathedral, the French Sailors had the hat (I'll have to look up what it is really called) with the pom-pom on top.

Seekadet Georg Johannes von Trapp (accidentally painted as a Korvettenleutnant - the stripe around the cuffs should end at the loop for Seekadet), Matrose (Seaman) Antoine Antumac and Waffenmatrose Ernest Grbac.

Anyway . . . another reason I did the Austro-Hungarian Naval contingent was because of variety - you have to love having white figures in your force. My initial Field Force for the 8 Nation Alliance will be a generic for with units that will add variety and color to the tabletop.

Quartermaster Carl Raschka.

Seventy-five members of the crew of the SMS Zenta were attached to the Peking Relief Expedition. Later they would be joined by 160 sailors from two other Austro-Hungarian ships. In addition, before hostilities commenced, the captain of the Zenta, Fregattenkapitän (Commander) Eduard Thomann von Montalmar, one officer, 2 cadets and 30 sailors went to help reinforce the Legation Quarter. As the senior allied officer von Montalmar was placed in command. Now we have controversy - either through bad intelligence, a lack of good judgement or cowardice, depending on the source, von Montalmar had all forces fall back on the British Legation which allowed many Legation buildings to be burned and parts of the Legation Quarter to be seized. A counterattack restored the perimeter. He was relived of command. On July 8, 1900, he was mortally wounded by a grenade; some accounts state he recklessly exposed himself in combat to make up for the blow to his honor.

Matrose Joseph Basurina, the photo bomb known as Waffenmatrose Grbac and Matrose Nicolas Hranuelli.

The most famous action of the sailors was the storming of the Taku forts by naval personnel of the Zenta and German marines.

"The Capture of the Forts at Taku", by Fritz Neumann in the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University.

The figures were a blast to paint - nicely sculpted figures make the painting easy! Copplestone is one of my favorites and the figures were a joy to paint. Uniforms that are primarily white can always be a challenge. I primed them with Citadel Wraithbone Grey and then did the highlights of the white uniforms with Vallejo Flat White once or twice. Not bad for a quick and easy paintjob and it follows The Colonel's rule Number 1 of painting: Paint for gaming distance (unless you just have to paint a masterpiece of a special figure).

Matrose's Mathieu Simcic, Joseph Bozikoo and Yure Petrovac.

The valiant crew of the SMS Zenta.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 6: We Need a Flag!

Naval Ensign of the Austrian-Hungarian Navy

I love flags! If I can get them on the Dining Room table (whether they were actually carried or not) I will get them on the table. Fortunately we have evidence that the Naval Ensign (flag) of the Austro-Hungarian ground contingent was carried by the sailors of the SMS Zenta and came from the ship. 

During its existence, Austria-Hungary did not have a common flag – a "national flag" could not exist since the Dual Monarchy consisted of two sovereign states. Until 1918, the War Fleet continued to carry the Austrian ensign it had used since 1786.

Naval ensign 1786–1918.

SMS Zenta in the Boxer Rebellion.

Instead of purchasing a commercial flag, this flag seemed easy to reproduce and paint. I wish I had taken pictures of what I did but I will try to summarize:

1. I used the image above as a guide and grabbed my handy-dandy rule and made a tricolor with an artists graphite pencil on regular printer paper. I did the right side of the flag first and then the left side with a small separation between them for the pole.

2. I sketched out the shield and crown sightly darker with my pencil

3. I mixed about 2/3 Vallejo Flat Red with 1/3 Vallejo Flat White and painted the red portions of the flag. As expected, I could see some of the crown through the paint of the upper portion of the flag.

4. I then used Citadel Yellow for the crown.

5. I went back to the red portions of the flag and painted them again (carefully) with Citadel Contrast Blood Angels Red.

6. After the contrast paint dried, I went back and cleaned up the crowns with the yellow and then added some red dots on the crown.

Note: I made the flag smaller than in real life.

7. Ta-Dah!

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part Two: The SMS Zenta

The SMS Zenta in 1901 at the Pola Shipyard after returning from China in 1901.

Truth in advertising time: I'm an Infantry, maneuver warrior kind of guy. But I love old ships. My real world experience with the United States Navy was interesting. At one time (this sounds more impressive than what it really is) I was the Lead Joint Planner, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, United States Army Europe. I got to work in a vault in Heidelberg, Germany. On the gripping hand, I got to work with the Navy and Air Force and could chose which operations I would be involved with - as long as the 2 Star was okay with it! As the Lead Planner, I was also the Army Liaison to the US Sixth Fleet. I actually had a billet, when activated, on the now decommissioned USS LaSalle.

The Navy loved me when I was on board when I was on that great boat, umm, ship the USS Lasalle:

"Excuse me Chief, what floor is Commander Smith on?'

"It's a deck sir."

"Do I go through this door Chief?'

"It's a bulkhead sir."

"Excuse me Chief, is the latrine through that door, er, bulkhead?
"You mean the head sir?'

"Now where did I put my hat?"

"Here's your cover, sir."

"During General Quarters, should I be on the left side of the ship, or the right side of the ship?"

"I don't care what the admiral said, I'm putting you in the brig sir."

They loved me! Gaming with ships can be fun too! Just don't have me in command of your flotilla. Let's see, how many times did I get my gunboats stuck on sandbars going up the Nile River in the 1890's? My greatest success was storming a British gunboat that got stuck during a fictional Boxer Rebellion game as an Imperial Chinese commander during a great game of The Sword and the Flame, Those were the days.

Anyway, while recovering from foot surgery, I discovered the Georg von Trapp of Sound of Music fame was a decorated hero during the Boxer Rebellion which is my next project. Here are some details on his ship, the armored cruiser SMS Zenta just for fun.

The SMS Zenta was launched in 1897 and represented one of the new iron ships in the Austro Hungarian fleet, a transition away from wooden vessels. Her overall length was 96.88 meters (317 ft 10 in) and a beam of 11.73 meters (38 ft 6 in). Her two four-cylinder vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each drove a single propeller shaft with eight Yarrow boilers for an average total of 8,160 indicated horsepower (6,080 kW),  achieving a maximum speed of 21.87 knots (40.50 km/h; 25.17 mph).

She also had the extra protection of an armor deck, two layers of 12.5 millimeter (0.49 in) plates and 50 millimeters (2.0 in) over the engine and boiler rooms. Further, she was armed with two 45 centimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, eight 40-caliber Škoda 12 centimeter (4.7 in) quick-firing guns, eight 44-caliber 4.7 centimeter (1.9 in) Škoda guns, and two 33-caliber 4.7 centimeter Hotchkiss guns.

The start of my Austro-Hungarian landing party; figures are Russian Navy from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond range.

Next: Lt. Col. Shiba Gorō of the Japanese Imperial Guard.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part One: Midshipman Second Class Georg von Trapp

Yes. That von Trapp. As we all know from The Sound of Music, etc., Georg Ludwig Ritter von Trapp was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Navy who became the patriarch of the Trapp Family Singers. Captain von Trapp Trapp was the most successful Austro-Hungarian submarine commander of World War I, sinking 11 Allied merchant ships totaling 47,653 GRT and two Allied warships displacing 12,641 tons. 

Hmmm . . . I think I gave him Groucho Marx eyebrows. that will be an easy fix.

But how many of us knew that he participated, and was awarded for bravery during the Boxer Rebellion? Ladies and Gentlemen, the SMS Zenta:

In 1894, aged fourteen, Trapp followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Austro-Hungarian Navy, entering the Imperial and Royal Naval Academy at Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia). In 1900, as a midshipman, he was assigned to the protected cruiser SMS Zenta and was decorated for his performance during the Boxer Rebellion in China, in which he participated in the assault on the Taku Forts. He personally led the Austro-Hungarian sailors that helped assault and capture Fort Pei Tang. For his bravery he was awarded the Silver Bravery Medal, 2nd Class and the War Medal.

Silver Bravery Medal, 2nd Class 

War Medal

In doing my research I noticed that many European Navies had similar uniforms and that the differences in 28mm are not noticeable. Now if you want to do the French, you can buy the figures with the pom pom on the top or even use British navy figures with Sennet hats as photographic evidence from the Boxer rebellion has them wearing (outside of Legation forces). Back back to the Austrians. I thought the Copplestone Castings Russian Sailors from their Back of Beyond range would be perfect for the Austrian Sailors from the SMS Zenta (reinforced later by the SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia, SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, SMS Aspern and an additional 160 Austrian marines).

"The Capture of the Forts at Taku", by Fritz Neumann in the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University.

I accidentally painted the figure as a Koverttenleutnant thinking that he already passed his Lieutenant examination and had been commissioned at this time - and by golly, the figure is going to stay that way!

How can you have a Colonial Adventure without a Naval Brigade?

"Полундра!"("Polundra!") yells the Imperial Russian Naval Brigade as they charge the enemy.

The continuing chronical of my design of a fictional Anglo-Russian War circa early 20th Century using The Men Who Would be KingsThe Men Who Would be Kings:

"Polundra!' (sometimes also palundra and falundra) is an exclamatory interjection that arose in the days of sailing fleets and originally had the meaning "watch out from above!" It was used in those circumstances when the sailors working on the masts dropped anything from their inventory or tools from a great height onto the deck. The "Polundra" is a battle cry unique to Russian navy/naval infantry and used since at least the 19th Century. During the Great Patriotic War (World War II), the word "Polundra!" served as the battle cry of Soviet marines. Currently, it is most often used as a synonym for the word "beware!" Thanks to Egor Yevsikov for the research and translation. 

The Imperial Russian Naval Brigade from the Sissoi Veliky that got accidentally left in China.

The Russian Naval Brigade, consisting of crew from the Russian Battleships Sissoi Veliky and Navarin participated, along with allied forces, in the successful defense of the International Legations in Beijing during the "Boxer Rebellion". Sissoi Veliky was a pre-dreadnought battleship built for the Imperial Russian Navy in the 1890s. The ship's construction was marred by organizational, logistical and engineering problems and dragged on for more than five years. She was commissioned in October 1896 with an appalling number of design and construction faults, and only a few of them were fixed during her lifetime.

Surprise sally outside of the walls of Beijing into a Boxer camp.

On March 15, 1897 she suffered a devastating explosion of the aft gun turret that killed 21 men. After nine months in the docks of Toulon for repairs, the ship sailed to the Far East to reinforce the Russian presence there. In the summer of 1900, Sissoi Veliky supported the international campaign against the Boxer Rebellion in China. Sailors from Sissoi Veliky and the battleship Navarin participated in the defense of the International Legations in Beijing for more than two months. During the seven weeks of the siege, three men from Sissoi Veliky were killed in action, one died of disease, and twelve were wounded. It was their that the sailors of the Sissoi Veliky worked with the 5th East Siberian Rifle Regiment and built a lasting trust and bond.

 

Sissoi Veliky

In fact, while celebrating the relief of the Legations with the 5th E. Siberian Rifles, the sailors were not informed of the imminent departure of the Sissoi Veliky and were left behind. Unknowingly, they were off the muster rolls of the battleship but fortunately their commanding officer, Kapitan-leytenant (Lieutenant Commander) Yury Andreyev sought out Polkovnik (Colonel) Nikolai Aleksandrovich Tretyakov, commanding the 5th E. Siberian Rifles for help.

Kapitan-leytenant Yury Andreyev. Instead of a Naval saber he carries his family's ancestral hunting knife that was given by Tsar Peter the Great and has been passed down through the generations.

To make a long story short, up to Manchuria that is now under Russian control, boarded the South Manchurian Railroad, then to the Trans-Siberian Railroad. 

Crossing the Ob River.

It was after crossing the Ob River that in Novosibirsk that they received a telegrammed order for them to head toward the Indian Frontier and join the 2nd Siberian Corps. They were not happy. 

Green route is modern.

India?

India . . .

I painted my Russian Naval troops for the fictional Anglo-Russian War using The Men Who Would be Kings based on their appearance in landing uniform for the Russo-Japanese War. For me, when there are a lot of dark colors, it is a challenge to highlight and make them look realistic instead of just a dark blob at gaming distance. Fortunately the brighter blue collar adds color to the mostly dark blue (Vallejo Dark Prussian Blue) and black. Interestingly, the collar was detachable.

Botsman (Boatswain) Victor Girasimov. The right hand man of Kapitan-leytenant Yury Andreyev.

Kwartirmeister (Quartermaster) Kirill Vanzin. Vanzin has acquired a green, red-piped furashika brimmed cap from the 5th East Siberian Rifle Regiment.

Vanzin has attached the two black silk ribbons from his old peak-less sailor cap and is wearing the M1872 striped undershirt (telnashka). Looking at the pictures I have a little clean-up to do on the stripes of his undershirt.

"Come on men, the 2nd Siberian Corps is this way."

A long march.