The Battle of Arras (21 May 1940) was a counter attack carried out by British and French forces against the German advance as it swept through the Low Countries and Northern France. The attack was a failure, although it did cause the Germans to be more wary about other counterattacks, allowing the Allies more time to prepare defences nearer to the coast, which would ultimately help in the eventual evacuation from Dunkirk.
In line with the well-established formula by this time, this set contains figures, vehicles and buildings. The choice of figures fell upon:
Also part of the set are the following kits:
- 1 of Italeri Sd. Kfz. 250/3 (7034)
- 1 of Italeri 8.8 cm FLaK 37 AA Gun
- 2 of Italeri Matilda Mk II Tank (7035)
As usual we also have some laser-cut MDF buildings. In this case they are a pair of terraced buildings - a house and a shop.
The figures are nice enough but not all of them are appropriate for 1940. The Germans include the anti-tank RPzB54 Panzerschreck, a weapon that did not exist until 1943, and an MG42 machine gun which, as you might have guessed, only appeared in 1942. The British infantry includes a pose with a P.I.A.T., another weapon that would not appear until years after 1940, and since none of the British have the respirator on the chest (or anywhere else), they are not convincing as troops for this early stage of the war. The Matilda and the 88 are fine for the campaign, but the Sd. Kfz. 250/3 only entered service in 1941 (and was the command version with a radio). While the latter is closely associated with Rommel, it was in the deserts of North Africa and not France in 1940 that that link was established.
Compared to some of the laser-cut MDF buildings Italeri were to offer us in their battlesets, these are quite modest. Nevertheless with internal floors and shutters at the windows, these make a nice platform for your troops to battle in and around, and as far as we can tell they look fairly typical of the place and time.
As always, Italeri included some really nice images of the made-up set on the back of the box, and as always they took some liberties to achieve such a pleasing result. There is none of the terrain we see in these images, nor the walls, tank traps and trees. Of course the painted figures, equipment and buildings adds greatly to the look, but the actual contents are no more than a basic building block for a final result such as this!
This is another nice set, and again will appeal to many, including children, who will find plenty here to engage their interest. For the purist, the handful of figures and vehicle which cannot have been present in 1940 are a problem, but there is enough here to give a good amount of interest and entertainment for many, and it is based on a campaign that is not one of the more fashionable, partly because it was over so quickly.