Saturday, 16 February 2019

More Recruits for Snapforce

Four more figures painted for Snapforce. A mixture of truth and fiction here! Doug em4 put me on to Druce. One of those cases where real life is stranger than fiction.


L to R: Jean Joseph Marie Gabriel de Lattre de Tassigny, Captain Henry Carey Druce, Ronnie Biggs, ‘Buster’ Edwards.

Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is on attachment to Snapforce to learn about Combined Operations. Captain Druce is famous for heading into battle wearing a black silk top hat. He specialises in sneaking through enemy lines dressed as a French peasant. On one occasion at Deelen, the troop was in a café awaiting the arrival of the Canadians before liberating the airport when a German motorcyclist arrived. In his saddle-bags was a ham that he had stolen from Arnhem. Druce, still in his top hat, ordered the man to get off his bike and, when he did not respond, seized the ham and knocked him off the machine with it. Biggs was born in Stockwell, Lambeth, London. Facing a dishonourable discharge for desertion he volunteered for the Commandos. His old school friend ‘Buster’ Edwards was born in Lambeth, the son of a barman. After leaving school, he worked in a sausage factory, before joining the Commandos.

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