Review : [NP-B008]Claus von Stauffenberg from Nuts Planet

Hi to you all , During WW2 attempts on the German leader Hitlers life was a constant risk with there being a known 15 events possibly the most famous was the 20th July 1944 bomb plot when senior officers close to Hitler tried to blow him up in Berlin ....he survived but 9 months later he committed suicide and the war was in the process of ending. One of these officers involved is the subject of the Nuts Planet release:

So lets have a bit of history about this event : There had been attempts on Hitlers life by military personnel before July 1944. Baron Henning von Tresckow, a staff officer, had sent two brandy bottles to a friend at Rastenburg - Major-General Helmuth Stieff. In fact, the bottles disguised a bomb. Stieff was a staff officer of the Army High Command at Rastenburg. He would have had the ability to put the bombs anywhere. The bomb failed to go off and Tresckow had to spend time retrieving them. Colonel von Gersdorff, a young officer in Tresckow's circle offered himself as a suicide bomber when Hitler was to open a museum in Berlin. This failed as Hitler could not make up his mind whether to open the new museum or not. In November 1943, Axel von dem Bussche, a young army officer, offered to blow himself up while modeling a new military great coat in front of Hitler. This only failed because Hitler, once again, cancelled the meeting. Therefore, there was a history of army officers conspiring against Hitler - Stauffenberg was certainly not the first. Those mainly involved in the 20th July plot included: Ludwig Beck Former general Aged 64 Wilhelm Canaris Head of Military Intelligence Aged 57 Hans Oster Deputy Head of Military Intelligence Aged 49 Helmuth von Moltke Legal advisor to Canaris Aged 37 Heinrich von Stulpnagel Military governor of France Aged 58 Carl Gordeler Price Control Commissioner Aged 60 Friedrich Olbricht Colonel-General Aged 58 Henning von Tresckow Major-General Aged 43 Claus von Stauffenberg Colonel; Chief of Staff Army Reserve Aged 37

The key figure was Count Claus von Stauffenberg as he had actual contact with Hitler on a regular basis and he could get into the Wolf's Lair with few problems. Claus von Stauffenberg was born on November 15th1907. He came from an aristocratic family and was born at the family’s castle in Jettingen, Swabia. While a youth Stauffenberg developed a taste for literature. However, family history effectively dictated that he joined the army, which he did in 1926. He joined the regiment that he family was most associated with – the 17th Cavalry Regiment – and received his commission in 1930. The 17th Cavalry Regiment became part of the German 1st Light Infantry Division

Stauffenberg was a career army officer. He had served in the Polish campaign, and the attacks on Europe. From here, he served in North Africa where, in July 1943, he was severely wounded from the gunfire of a low-flying plane. He lost his right hand and forearm and all but three of the fingers on his left hand. He had also lost his right eye. After a long stay in hospital, Stauffenberg was appointed Chief-of-Staff to Friedrich Olbricht who was Head of the Supply Section of the Reserve Army. The headquarters for this unit was the War Office in Berlin - not at Rastenburg. Other conspirators worked at the War Office - Tresckow in particular. Both Stauffenberg and Tresckow had already met in 1941 and it would seem that Stauffenberg's appointment was not a coincidence. The conspiracy against Hitler was given the code-name 'Valkyrie'. Not long after Stauffenberg arrived at the War Office, Tresckow had to return to his unit at the Eastern Front. This left Stauffenberg and Olbricht to do all of the work in Berlin. By now, Olbricht had decided on former general Beck to be the man who would succeed Hitler as Head of State. In June 1944, the conspiracy took a major step forward when Stauffenberg was promoted to full colonel and made the Chief-of-Staff to General Fromm. It was now necessary for Stauffenberg to attend meetings that were headed by Hitler. He first met Hitler on June 7th, 1944, just one day after D Day. Now the German Army was faced with the probability of destruction on two fronts - something that the conspirators could not allow. Hence, speed became the essence. Tresckow sent Stauffenberg a message from the Eastern Front: "The assassination must be attempted, at any cost. Even should that fail, the attempt to seize power in the capital must be undertaken. We must prove to the world and to the future generations that the men of the German resistance movement dared to take the decisive step and to hazard their lives upon it. Compared with this, nothing else matters." However, in early July a series of arrests took place in Germany. Stauffenberg did not know who would be next or how much the Gestapo knew. It certainly was not unusual for the Gestapo to leave known conspirators alone and free from arrest - until they were needed. The Gestapo was far more interested in who the conspirators met with - something they would never find out if they were locked up in a cell. July brought more problems. Sympathetic senior officers were moved posts (Field Marshall Kluge went from the Eastern Front to the Western Front - thus isolating Tresckow). Rommel who had been critical of the way Hitler ran the war, was severely injured when his car was attacked by a fighter plane. With a scenario of this going wrong and getting worse, Stauffenberg decided to quickly push on. He was the perfect person to carry in a bomb - no-one would suspect the severely disabled war hero. Stauffenberg received orders that the next staff conference was to be at 13.00 on July 20th. The start was changed to 12.30 - though the time change meant little to Stauffenberg. Having broken a capsule full of acid which would eat through a wire detonator thus activating a firing pin, Stauffenberg went into a map room with Field Marshall Keital and placed the bomb, hidden in his briefcase, against a leg of the table that supported the war maps that Hitler was using. After this was done, Stauffenberg made his excuse (he had to take a telephone report from Berlin) and left the map room. He went to his staff car and as he got level to it, an explosion occurred in the map room. The time was 12.42. The SS guards believed that an air raid was taking place. Regardless of this, Stauffenberg bluffed his way out of the very heavily guarded Wolf's Lair and by 13.15 was on his plane for the journey to Berlin. Just before the bomb was due to explode, an officer attending the briefing had moved the briefcase to the other side of the table support chosen by Stauffenberg as the ideal place to put the bomb. Therefore, the blast was directed away from Hitler who survived with his clothes singed, a cut to his hand and damaged ear drums. In fact, at 16.00, less than four hours after the explosion, Hitler gave Mussolini a tour of the damage done to the map room. "I have escaped death miraculously." Hitler "Heaven has held its protective hand over you." Mussolini "I will crush and destroy the criminals who have dared to oppose themselves to Providence and me." Hitler

At 18.45 a radio broadcast stated that there had been an attempt on Hitler's life but that it had failed and Hitler was alive. The radio broadcast then stated that Hitler would address the German people sometime in the evening. General Fromm, who was trying to protect himself and show loyalty to Hitler. Fromm went through the motions of a court martial and

Stauffenberg was found guilty of treason. He was shot at about 01.00 on July 21st. General Fromm ordered that Stauffenberg (and three others who were also shot) should be buried in a church in his uniform. The next day, SS men dug up Stauffenberg’s body, took off his medals and other insignia on his uniform and burned the body.

Anybody who was implicated in the plot faced arrest, torture and execution. Many had to stand trial before Roland Freisler, the Nazi judge who showed no mercy to anyone.

n 1980, a Berlin road known as the Bendlerstrasse was renamed the Stauffenbergstrasse and a memorial was erected in the Bendlerblock – the offices where Stauffenberg worked and where he was arrested.

The German government also placed a memorial in the courtyard where he was executed.

There has of course been films the most recent being Operation Valkyrie (This was Hitlers codename) ...the film starred of course

Tom Cruise. .....The film uniform!

Let us now open the box: Nuts Planet alongside other Korean manufacturers have a extremely high standard and it all begins with shipping , this has always been fast and well packed for transit movement from NP.. Nuts Planet use a nice and easily noticed format on their boxes , blue in colour , with great box art ..this is always a bonus IMO...as it also provides both inspiration and reference to the modeller.

The parts were all well sandwiched between foam sheets ...good stuff to keep after you have done the model ...why not use the box for your spares as well ...I have. What are we looking at : Title: Claus von Stauffenberg - The memory of 20th July 1944 Scale:1/10th Reference: NP-B008 Material: Resin No of parts: 5 Sculptor: Jun-Sik Ahn Box Art: Myeong-Ha Hwang The parts consist of the torso , 2 heads (1 full, the other ready to have the cap on) the officers cap and a base.

Beginning as I like to with any prep , there are just one easily removed casting plug on the 4 main parts , the cap will need to have a bit more care when doing so , with the base needing a sanding around the bottom to remove a small amount of flashing ..the initial impression is of a really smooth casting ..as with other releases from NP...a good start. When announced by NP there was some comments about the likeness to Mr Cruise and I can imagine that the film was looked at but I am going to concentrate on the model itself and leave those thoughts to you . The colour representation on the box top and sides is very striking , there is a German sentence on the top "Es lebe Unser heiliges Deutschland" meaning "Long live our sacred Germany". Beginning with the torso , super smooth all over , the underside has a area to locate the base(Pin it!), the uniform is of course an officers version and of a fine cloth , we see the awards on the chest , Iron Cross and wound badge these are well detailed (be careful not to knock the badge overhang)' NP have researched well sculpting the uniform on known pictures of von S, the clothing has great movement on the cloth a little dishevelled looking with excellent undercuts down the centre and more so with the pockets , buttons are well done , the collar insignia is a wonderful representation , the epaulettes are the same with the eagle badge being the same, all the care taken with the fine details will help the painting.

Now to the heads we have an option here with or without the cap :

Looking at the full head first this is IMO a really good likeness to the man himself , strong cheekbones , jawline, looking to the front , this is before he lost his eye as no patch is sculpted , again as with everything previously the facial details are excellent , good features on the mouth and ears, the eyes re very well one ...good eyelids have been done , the hair is another area very well detailed with nice texture , obviously you cannot fit the cap on this one but if you choose to you could always cut the excess away ...carefully ...if not donate the unused one to the spares box..win win situation here!

On to the 2nd version now , this gas the same high quality of sculpting with the addition of the eye patch , this head looks a bit more like that well known actor ..perhaps it's the patch not sure ..but either way a great sculpt from Jun- Sik.

On the top of the head we have a lug that matches spot on the cut out in the cap ....making the fit very very good .

Now to the remaining pieces: The cap now , very stylised with the crown pulled down at the sides , the badges and insignia are as on the torso well detailed and very well defined , the cords are a nice area as well , the surface detail being very sharp.

On now to the base this is the normal one as in previous release from NP , well shaped it certainly looks the part , if you choose to use it pin it ..if not to the spares box it goes.

Final Thoughts: This is as expected another really well presented piece from NP , extremely well sculpted, and super smooth casting , matching high quality box art . The subject choice is a good one of a man dedicated in his profession but paying the ultimate price at the hands of a brutal regime . I like the option of 2 heads and the fine details on the awards ....another I am very happy to recommend. Thanks to Nuts Planet for the review model For more details on this and other releases from NP (not just busts either!) why not visit the website at: www.nutsplanet.com Or on FB at www.facebook.com/nutsplanet ...and of course dear reader Thanks to you all for looking in

Here are a few referenc pictures for you :

the piping would have been a carmine (thanks Colin) rather than yellow shown