Today we're showing three pieces of artwork from our January 2025 series books! Let us know in the comments which books you'd like to see featured in our February 2025 Artwork Reveal!

 

The Athenian Army 507–322 BC

By Nicholas Sekunda

Illustrated by Giuseppe Rava

 

5TH-CENTURY ATHENIAN CAVALRY

The plate recreates the images of three horsemen from the West frieze of the Parthenon. The frieze was sculpted between c.443 and c.437 and probably depicts the procession of the Greater Panathenaic festival from the Leokoreion by the Dipylon Gate up to the Parthenon. The ‘Greater’ Panathenaic festival, during which weapons would not be carried, was celebrated every four years, the ‘Lesser’ Panathenaia annually. Horsemen take up nearly half the length of the frieze. Despite repeated attempts to detect ‘uniformity’ in the dress worn by the horsemen, Stevenson (2003) is probably correct in stating that at this time, dress depended entirely on the personal choice of the cavalryman.

(1) Athenian cuirassed cavalryman
This depiction is based on figure W7. On the sculpture, the folds in the ‘overfall’ of the tunic tied at the waist can be seen beneath the cuirass. He wears a ‘muscle-cuirass’ without shoulder-guards, so as not to impede javelin-throwing.

(2) Cavalryman wearing Thracian dress
This depiction is based on figure W8. All figures of horsemen shown on the Parthenon frieze are beardless youths except for two, W8 and W15, who along with S2–S7 wear Thracian dress. Thracians wore fox-skins on their heads, multicoloured, patterned cloaks and boots of doeskin reaching up to the knee (Herodotus, Hist. 7.75). This figure wears a normal Greek tunic, but a Thracian hat, cloak and boots. It is uncertain whether the neck-flap to the hat was made of foxskin or of multi-coloured Thracian textile, and it could have ended in a right angle, or had the shape of a ‘beaver’s tail’. Robertson and Frantz (1975: ad pl. VIII 15) suggest that these bearded figures, on account of their senior age are hipparchoi, which seems reasonable, but the fact that they both wear Thracian dress may be coincidental. In the Archaic period, influential Athenian families had estates or castles in the coastal regions of Thrace: perhaps these Thracian contacts were maintained.

(3) Cavalryman in Thessalian dress
Based on W17 from Slab IX, this rider wears a Thessalian hat and cloak. Many prominent Athenian aristocratic families maintained close relationships with their Thessalian counterparts and imitated their dress. The Thessalian type of cloak, usually with a different-coloured border at either side, was wrapped around the left shoulder and pinned with a fibula above the right shoulder. It hung round the body in a very distinctive way, hanging in a V-shape at the front and back and open on the right-hand side.

Art requested by Daniel Figueroa Giraldez.

 

The Kamenets-Podolsky Pocket 1944: Encirclement of Hube’s 1st Panzer Army

By Robert Forczyk

Illustrated by Adam Hook

 

SOVIET SUPPLY COLUMNS STRUGGLE FORWARD THROUGH THE MUD, 15 MARCH 1944

During the first five days of the 1st Ukrainian Front spring offensive, the vanguard units expended most of their on-hand ammunition and fuel, forcing Zhukov to order a nine-day halt for supply columns to restock his front-line tank armies. As it turned out, the mobility of the Red Army was hindered by the Ukrainian mud just as much as the Wehrmacht’s, if not more, due to the lack of tracked logistic vehicles. Each Soviet tank army had three motor transport battalions used to push ammunition and fuel forward from the nearest railhead to distribution points near the front, although the distances involved usually meant one supply run per truck company per day. Here, a column of American-built Studebaker US6 cargo trucks is arriving at a field distribution point near Volochisk to deliver ammunition and fuel to elements of Badanov’s 4th Tank Army. A German Panther tank, disabled in a previous rearguard action, lies as mute observer in a nearby field. As the truck convoy arrives, the crew of one T-34/76 Model 1943 is already beginning to refuel their tank, transferring fuel from drums via a hand pump, which was a tedious process. The art of tactical refuelling is an essential – but often overlooked – ingredient of armoured operations. Conducting tactical refuelling at night in order to avoid enemy air raids can be even more challenging, since it was not unusual for supply columns to go astray in the dark.

Logistics was the Achilles heel of the Red Army in 1943–44, but the arrival of over 200,000 Lend-Lease Studebaker trucks helped to partially redress this imbalance. The Studebaker could handle the thick Ukrainian mud, unlike many of the German cargo trucks and ensured that Zhukov’s spearhead units could continue to receive at least a daily trickle of supplies. While rated as having a cargo capacity of 2.5 tons, the Red Army often increased the loads on the Studebaker up to 4 tons, which reduced mobility on muddy roads. With a standard load, a single Studebaker could deliver enough fuel to refill four T-34/76 tanks; eight trucks could refill a tank battalion. Unlike the Germans, the VVS had minimal ability to deliver supplies to forward units by air, so the tank armies were totally dependent upon their truck battalions to sustain their advances. The fact that the resupply effort took nine days to complete proved to be more of an obstacle to the fulfilment of Zhukov’s operational goals than any resistance offered by Hube’s 1. Panzerarmee.

Art requested by Alex Fernández.

 

South Atlantic 1982: The carrier campaign in the Falklands War

By Angus Konstam

Illustrated by Edouard A. Groult

 

 

Dogfight over West Falkland, 21 May 1982

On 21 May the British Amphibious Force began landing at San Carlos, on the western coast of East Falkland, some 50 miles west of Port Stanley. The Argentinians reacted by launching a series of air attacks on the British warships which were attempting to protect the landings. Inevitably, Sea Harriers from the British carriers were ordered to intercept waves of Argentinian aircraft, heading towards San Carlos from the Argentinian mainland. That afternoon, Cdr ‘Sharkey’ Ward and Lt Steve Thomas of 801 NAS were ordered to establish a patrol line over West Falkland near Port Howard, 30 miles west of the landing beaches. At 14.40, they spotted three Argentinian Dagger fighter-bombers flying east over the barren island, heading towards the beachhead.

The Daggers were flying at low level, to avoid detection on radar. So, the two British pilots dived down to intercept. Spotting Ward, Ratón flight leader Capt Guillermo Donadille ordered the aircraft to ditch their bombs and spare fuel tanks, and try to escape. By then though, Ward in Sea Harrier 004 had threaded between two of them, before turning hard to pursue them. Thomas in Sea Harrier 009 hadn’t been spotted by the Dagger pilots, and he launched a Sidewinder, which brought down Lt Sena, flying Dagger C-407. Donadille in C-403 tried to climb into the clouds to escape, but Thomas pursued him and fired his second missile. It struck the Dagger’s port wing, bringing it down. Meanwhile, the third Dagger, C-404, flown by Maj Gustavo Piuma shot at an unsuspecting Ward as he dived past him, but Ward turned, dived, and brought Piuma down with a Sidewinder.

In the illustration, Ward in the foreground is firing at Piuma, who is trying to bank away at low level, while in the background Thomas’ second Sidewinder has just hit Donadille’s Dagger. The smoking wreck of Sena’s Dagger can be seen on the left. Amazingly, all three Argentinian pilots managed to eject, and lived to tell the tale.