Part One
This article has been put together from several posts on the Lead Adventure forum. The main building photographs and instructions are Dominic's originals. I would like to thank another forum member, Sgt Perry, who contributed information, translations from the French and contemporary photographs of Carentan throughout the build. Alright, that's enough background, on with the construction...
I received the Miniature Building Authority Cafe last Friday. It's a good copy of the "Cafe de Normandie" which appears in the Band of Brothers' Carentan scenario.
Using this as a starting point I decided to scratch-build, one by one, all the buildings surrounding Cafe de Normandie. Here's what I've done so far:
The next step is to do the Restaurant "Desire Ingouf":
Here are some step-by-step pics for building Desire Ingouf.
The measurements are all guesswork. There are pics of the 2 front sides. But the configuration for the 2 rear sides is also guess work!
This is a pic of Rue Holgate, at the end of it, you can make out the Restaurant Desire Ingouf:
And here is another pic of the Restaurant Desire Ingouf from a different angle (along D913 in direction Cherbourg). Yesterday, I built the house behind the Kubelwagen. (Step-by-step pictures to follow.)
Here's the famous crossroads from which Easy company/506th PIR attacked Carentan. This was taken in 1944. According to the picture in Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, Easy Company came from the left side.
Here's the picture taken from the same place nowadays. It's really changed a lot. The road on the left drives you to a private housing estate but there were only fields during the war.
Here's the picture taken from the road from which Easy Company arrived. It's a gentle slope, with in the front, old buildings, which, from what I learned from the older inhabitants of Carentan, existed in 1944. We can suppose that the MG42 was in position in this building.
On the left side, there's a wall with visible bullets marks. That's the only hint of fight in the area.
Finally here's the picture of the house in which was set up the US medical post after the battle.
Now I understand better the path of Easy Company through Carentan.
So there was no Cafe de Normandie... and they did not pass Chez Desire Ingouf
Easy Company, part of 2/506, arrived in Carentan to the Southwest which is to the left of this photo.
They attacked across Rue Holgate south of the rail track towards this group of houses.
Then turned northeast to enter Carentan about 200m east of chez Desire Ingouf, near the train station.
Across the road from the train station is today's Town Hall, I think in 1944, this was a school.
Back to building the restaurant. Here's the roof, the roof tiles are by Auhagen, a German railroad model company.
And now with the dormer windows added.
Coming in Part Two: Detailing the windows and adding the signage as more historical detective work is undertaken to uncover the hidden past of Carentan.
I received the Miniature Building Authority Cafe last Friday. It's a good copy of the "Cafe de Normandie" which appears in the Band of Brothers' Carentan scenario.
Using this as a starting point I decided to scratch-build, one by one, all the buildings surrounding Cafe de Normandie. Here's what I've done so far:
The next step is to do the Restaurant "Desire Ingouf":
Here are some step-by-step pics for building Desire Ingouf.
The measurements are all guesswork. There are pics of the 2 front sides. But the configuration for the 2 rear sides is also guess work!
This is a pic of Rue Holgate, at the end of it, you can make out the Restaurant Desire Ingouf:
And here is another pic of the Restaurant Desire Ingouf from a different angle (along D913 in direction Cherbourg). Yesterday, I built the house behind the Kubelwagen. (Step-by-step pictures to follow.)
Here's the famous crossroads from which Easy company/506th PIR attacked Carentan. This was taken in 1944. According to the picture in Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers, Easy Company came from the left side.
Here's the picture taken from the same place nowadays. It's really changed a lot. The road on the left drives you to a private housing estate but there were only fields during the war.
Here's the picture taken from the road from which Easy Company arrived. It's a gentle slope, with in the front, old buildings, which, from what I learned from the older inhabitants of Carentan, existed in 1944. We can suppose that the MG42 was in position in this building.
On the left side, there's a wall with visible bullets marks. That's the only hint of fight in the area.
Finally here's the picture of the house in which was set up the US medical post after the battle.
Now I understand better the path of Easy Company through Carentan.
So there was no Cafe de Normandie... and they did not pass Chez Desire Ingouf
Easy Company, part of 2/506, arrived in Carentan to the Southwest which is to the left of this photo.They attacked across Rue Holgate south of the rail track towards this group of houses.
Then turned northeast to enter Carentan about 200m east of chez Desire Ingouf, near the train station.
Across the road from the train station is today's Town Hall, I think in 1944, this was a school.
Back to building the restaurant. Here's the roof, the roof tiles are by Auhagen, a German railroad model company.
And now with the dormer windows added.
Coming in Part Two: Detailing the windows and adding the signage as more historical detective work is undertaken to uncover the hidden past of Carentan.
