“In waiting for a counter-attack” 1/72 UM, Scratchbuild

This was my first diorama so I was very pleased that this work won first place at “T-34: A Life-Long Way” contest at Rumodelism.com website.

The history of tank unit named after Dimitry Donskoi began in 1943, when Russian Orthodox Church gathered about 8 millions rubles which were spent on building 40 T-34 tanks in Chelyabinsk. Among them were 19 tanks of brand new modification armed with 85-mm D-5T gun. Those tanks were given to 38-th Separate Tank Regiment. In a few days Regiment received “Dimitry Donskoi” name and were put in battle for liberation of Ukraine (Umano-Botoshan Operation, winter-spring 1944) as one of the  units of 2-nd Ukrainian Front.

This was joined massive attack of 1-st, 2-nd and 3-rd Ukrainian Fronts headed by Zhukov, Konev and Malinovsky marshals. This was a kind of Blitzkrieg, but this time performed by Soviets. In a week armies of 2-nd Ukrainian Front  liberated Uman city and forced South Bug river on a 100-km shore. It is important to mention that the enemy was very strong. Among German units were elite SS divisions.

For the “Dimitry Donskoi” Regiment it was a hard month. It took part in liberation of cities Balta and Kotovsk, forced Dniester River and faced many fights. The Regiment destroyed 38 German tanks, 17 half-tracks, 40 guns and about 1400 enemy troops. But loses were heavy too. After a month of battles only four out of 40 tanks stayed in line. Regiment became Guard and received new name “Dniestrovsky”. Lately it was equipped with new heavy tanks.

The T-34-85 tank is made from UM kit with little modernization. It was painted with the use of documental photographs of “Dimitry Donskoi” tanks. Figurines were self-sculptured and building was made from scratch.