An Armor Dio.....

[dexter059]

Well mates, here you have the backstory, all the vehicles are real, but the scene I pictured with the backstory turns into a Alternative History whatiffery.....hope you like it ^_^

Somewhere in the border, December 1978

During 1978, Chile and Argentina where involved in a bitter and dangerous border dispute for 3 island in the Beagle Channel: Picton, Nueva and Lennox. The argentinian Governement desobeyed the arbitral decision made by Queen Elizabeth giving the islands to Chile, and started preparing for war. Intense diplomatics negociations sponsored by the UN, USA and The Vatican were unsuccesful, and inteligence reports of american sources both in Peru and Argentina showed that both countries were ready to invade Chile at the same time. In december 22 1978, 04:00 hours in Santiago and Buenos Aires, the attack came up in 2 fronts: from the north, an armoured advance of the Peruvian Army, comprised by 3 Mechanized Divisions with 30.000 men (500 T 55 and 400 APC)  and heavy air support (SU-7 and Mirage III) started pounding north chilean territory and the cities of Arica and Iquique, facin only 18.000 men in 2 Infantry Divisions of the Chilean Army, armed with 130 M24, M41 & Shermans, 200 M3 Halftracks & M113 APC´s, and 24 Hawker Hunters. In the south, 4 Mechanized Divisions of  Argentina with more than 36.000 men, with 400 AMX-13 & Sherman tanks and 600 APC´s, and with air support provided by 80 Daggers and A-4´s, faced the oposition of 24.000 men with 20 AMX 30, 100 M24 &M41, 50 Shermans and 300 M113 and M3 Halftracks APC, and 14 F5 and 36 A37. On the sea, the Argentinian fleet leaded by the CV 25 de Mayo, escorted the Marine Infantryamphibious assault force of 7000 men against the disputed islands, defended by 5000 Chilean Marines.

The overwhelming numbers of the invaders didn´t affected the ferocious defense of the chileans. Dug in deep, they left the advancing armies of Peru and Argentina to run over prepared defensive positions, that took a heavy toll in both men and machines. On the sea, the chilean submarine O´Brien got 2 torpedo hits on the 25 de Mayo and the cruiser General Belgrano, the naval battle between both fleets were costly for the chileans (2 Fletcher destroyers sunk and the light cruiser Latorre heavy dameged by antiship missiles), the torpedo boats sinking most of the troop ships, and the few LST that were able to unload the troops on the islands, were destroyed by the defending chilean Marines.

On the air, thanks to the A/A missiles secretly supplied by Israel and USA on prevous months, most of the aircraft of Peru and Argentina were destroyed or damaged, and the Hunters and F-5 even got 23 enemy aircraft destroyed in dogfight. The USA, Britain and Germany begun sending equipment to Chile, much like in the Yom Kippur War with Israel, but not envolving military forces properly. The Vatican begun negociations to get a cease fire, but the 3 governements were inflexible.

After 4 months of vicious fighting in the chilean territory, the chilean forces damaged heavily most of the attaking force, and begun the offensive operations to drove the invaders back......

May 1st 1979: Here you find some logistic units of the Chilean Army near the city of Arica (still occupied by peruvian forces), moving supplies to the frontline units, taking a rest under the heavy sun of the desert.










Sorry about the grammar and spelling, still lot of english to learn yet

Cheers

[Radish]

Terrific!!        

[The Rat]

Dexter, that is a stunning amount of detail and work, outstanding! Those Coca Cola cases are a great touch too, adds a good dose of familiarity and makes me wish I was in the scene.

MOVE OUT!      

[dexter059]

Thanks The Rat ^_^  

[Patrick H]

Good job Dexter, both on the dio and on the scenario.



Patrick

[dexter059]

Thanks Patrick  ^_^  

[K5054NZ]

Absolutely briiiiilliaaaaaant, mate! Fantastic!

[dexter059]

Thanks ^_^  

[cthulhu77]

very great!  dioramas are hard to pull off...this one rocks!

[dexter059]

Thanks buddy...... ^_^