Preview: 1/35th scale "The Fall of Berlin, German POWs 1945 Big Set" (& single figures) from Stalingrad Miniatures...

A new set of German soldiers & civilians, pictured in the ruins of a captured Berlin in May 1945, is Stalingrad Miniatures' latest figure release. We look at them & the photos that inspired them in our preview...

Preview: 1/35th scale "The Fall of Berlin, German POWs 1945 Big Set" (& single figures) from Stalingrad Miniatures...

The Subject, the fall of Berlin – German POWs...

The Surrender and the Final March: On May 2, 1945, the Berlin garrison collapsed. General Helmuth Weidling ordered all forces to cease fire. Roughly 480,000 German soldiers laid down their weapons. This marked the start of their captivity. Soviet troops rounded up survivors from the ruins. The prisoners formed massive, defeated columns. Red Army soldiers marched them through Berlin. They passed charred landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate. Angry Soviet guards and shell-shocked civilians watched them go. 

Execution and Immediate Transit: The first hours of captivity were lethal. Many Red Army soldiers sought revenge for Nazi atrocities. They frequently shot SS troops on the spot. Volkssturm teenagers and elderly men faced intense physical abuse. Soviet forces stripped captives of watches, boots, and coats. They herded the prisoners into open-air enclosures. These makeshift camps lacked sanitation, food, and water. Thousands died of exposure within the first week. 

Captured German soldiers come out of the "Oranienburger Tor" U-Bahn station, Berlin, May 1945

Deportation to the GUPVI Camps: By mid-May, the mass deportations began. Soviet guards forced captives into crowded freight cars. The trains headed east towards the Soviet GUPVI system. This journey lasted weeks with almost no food. The prisoners arrived in camps across Siberia and the Urals. They faced a decade of brutal forced labour. They rebuilt the very Soviet infrastructure they had helped destroy.

A well-known photo of displaced persons crossing the River Elbe over what is left of the bridge at Tangermünde in Germany. The bridge had been blown up by the retreating German army. The refugees are fleeing from the advancing Soviet army.

The figure set:

It has been a long time since the last of Stalingrad Miniature's new figure set releases. They return with his new set of German soldiers & civilians, pictured in the ruins of a captured Berlin in May 1945. We only have a few photos of their latest set, but you can see the sculptor Alexander Zelenkov's style is present in these figures, which he also painted. They come in singles & a big set of six figures we will look at now...

"The Fall of Berlin, German POWs 1945 Big Set"

From Stalingrad Miniatures

Kit No. #3290

1/35th scale

Seven figures in light grey resin

Sculpted & box art by Alexander Zelenkov

A quite good-looking figure to start off this set of seven figures. These men and one woman are a combination of well-known subjects pictured in reels or photos from the fall of Berlin in May 1945. Sold as a big set, unassembled and unpainted. This is a combination of the smaller sets and single figure we look at next. 

 Wounded Comrade, German POWs 1945

From Stalingrad Miniatures

Kit No. #3291

1/35th scale

Four figures in light grey resin

Sculpted & box art by Alexander Zelenkov

Four figures are included in this small set. With an older Volkssturm soldier, a civilian workman and a paratrooper (there were some left in Berlin's defence as we saw in one of the photos above), they are carrying this very badly wounded comrade forward. Who knows what happened to them?

You can see the unpainted sculptures here, the three men carrying the wounded soldier in a tarp or a blanket. Each of these men is holding a corner of the cloth, and you will have to make sure that you have them correctly placed.

German soldier, 1945

From Stalingrad Miniatures

Kit No. #3292 

1/35th scale

One figure in light grey resin

Sculpted & box art by Alexander Zelenkov

The soldier is shown painted up here, with a rather angular face and sullen expression shown here. He is fully laden with a lot of gear, walking to an uncertain fate. The sadness of the man is seen in this great sculpture.

Seen from the front and the rear, this German soldier can be seen to look rather on the older side; he is definitely a Volkssturm (home guard equivalent). He is laden down with a big pack on his back and a thick greatcoat opened up in the front to show his baggy uniform underneath. This man looks a shadow of himself here int he sculpt.

"Helden und Heiler" Wounded Soldier and Nurse, 1945

From Stalingrad Miniatures

Kit No. #3293

1/35th scale

Two figures in light grey resin

Sculpted & box art by Alexander Zelenkov

"Heroes and healers" is the heading for this set of two figures. The Soviet nurse, looking rather terse in this sculpture, helps a blinded German soldier in a large greatcoat down the ruined streets of Berlin after their capture. 

Looking at the bare sculpt below gives you more of an idea of the figures, the folds in the clothes they are wearing, and the body language. The slim nurse and soldier, both on meagre rations and always active, are a feature here. The soldier carries only a flask for his food with him, while the nurse carries a medical bag and small handbag of some sort.

These figures are sold together or in singles, and they are available right now – check these out and all of Alexander's other works at the Stalingrad Website: