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Breakout!

Setting the Scene

The scene below is a compact diorama set in Berlin in the Spring of ’45. Russian regulars have infiltrated the outskirts of Berlin, and fighting is days away from ending. Small pockets of German Wehrmact, Grenadiers, SS, and Volkstrum have banded together in a battle for the streets, under loose command of the highest-ranking soldier present, often a NCO.

Russian artillery has reduced most of Berlin to rubble. Banks, businesses, schools, and offices have been closed, and little of value remains, other than the cover afforded by the huge amounts of debris littering the streets. Fighting is fierce and desperate. Capture means death to the Germans.

Our scene shows a group of seven soldiers, three SS and four Wehrmact, making a desperate dash from a building that has come under heavy fire. As they rush the doorway from within the building, a fire-fight breaks out and the Germans barely make it to the street before they are mowed down.

The kit is an older Verlinden kit (the first I ever purchased, in fact), and is readily available through the Verlinden Website or at many dealers. The design of the kit make for a long, shallow Reich’s Office, but this proved far too unwieldy for the size of diorama I was looking for. The extra wall section was instead used to provide the depth of the building, and is shown in later photos. I sealed the plaster building with a very pale gray primer, then came back and covered the dry piece with a dark charcoal wash to bring out the excellent texture of the concrete and the detail of the architecture. The flag shown above is a cloth item from the Alexander the Great line, and is hung from a white metal sign bracket found at the local doll shop.