Carentan

A modelling odyssey
by Dominic

Written by Dominic
Additional photographs and research by Sgt Perry
Editing by Matakishi

[Link]
 Introduction
By Dominic, Sgt Perry and Matakishi

This booklet 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.

All right, that's enough background, on with Dominic's explanation of 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.

The Miniature
Building Authority
Cafe de
Normandie model
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:
 Desire Ingouf

This is a photo of Rue Holgate, at the end of it,

you can make out the Restaurant Desire Ingouf
 Desire Ingouf
The next step is to do the Restaurant "Desire Ingouf"

Here are some step-by-step pictures for building Desire Ingouf.

The measurements are all guesswork. There are photographs of the 2 front
sides. But the configuration for the 2 rear sides is also guess work.
 Desire Ingouf
The main construction material here is 4mm thick cork tiles. These tiles are
easy to work with, they take paint and glue very well. They can be glued with
either super glue or PVA. Using super glue, with the occasional addition of
some accelerator, makes building with cork tiles very fast.
 Desire Ingouf
The base for the hotel is cut from hardboard.
 Desire Ingouf
Here's the roof, the roof tiles are by Auhagen, a German railroad model
company.

here is another photograph of the

Restaurant Desire Ingouf from a
different angle
(along D913 in direction Cherbourg).
 Desire Ingouf
And now with the dormer windows added.

For the detailing, I started with some textured tile sheets and cut them into
strips for the window outlines.
Desire Ingouf
 Desire Ingouf
Then I drew in the curved outlines at the top of each window using a masking
tape roll as a template.

To make the tile strips conform to the curved window tops, I did a half cut
along each tile so the strip could curve a little. The keystones are just card cut
into appropriate shapes to fit the gap.

Next, using a textured brick sheet, cut into appropriate sized strips to line the
base of the building. The bricks are textured plastic sheets from [Link]
Desire Ingouf
 Desire Ingouf
The next step is to mask off all the details in preparation for spraying. I'm
going to use a granite textured spray paint to texture the walls.

Here's the model after applying the granite texture spray paint.

After searching for the real name of the building of Mr Ingouf, the next page
shows a picture with the road that Easy Company 506th PIR took during the
attack on Carentan.

The 506th PIR was at the hamlet of La Billonerie on the roads to Periers.

On the google map part you can see nowadays buildings which were in pictures
shown on previous pages.

After some discussion and some Googling, Sgt Perry and I managed to
discover what was written on the long sign at the side of the building:

"Hotel du Soleil Levant & Desire Ingouf Restaurateur". Literally -"Hotel of the
Rising Sun and Desire Ingouf Restaurant owner"

I'm sure the GIs had some fun in there after they liberated Carentan!

"...There is a house in New Orleans, they call the …"

 Desire Ingouf
Here is the (nearly) finished building.

It's not 100% complete as I'm still looking for a couple of suitable road signs
for the front, and a big poster for the rear corner (next to the Normandie ship).

There is a specific poster that they used in the Band of Brothers episode that
I want to try and find.
 Desire Ingouf
I bought some 1/35 Verlinden signs that are exactly what I need I scanned
them and reduced them to the correct size. Here is the model with the road
signs.
 Desire Ingouf
I toyed around with adding windows, but after putting in a couple, decided
against it as it became very fiddly. I figure most people won't miss it on the
gaming table.

I finally found the poster for the back that was used in the Band of Brothers
episode.
 History of Carentan

Here's the famous crossroads from which Easy company 506th PIR attacked
Carentan. This was taken in 1944.

According to the picture in Stephen Ambrose's book, Band of Brothers,

Easy Company came from the left side.
 History of Carentan

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.
 History of Carentan

Here's the picture taken from the road from which Easy Company arrived.

It's a gentle slope with old buildings in the front 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.

 History of Carentan

On the left side, there's a wall with visible bullets marks. That's the only hint of
a fight in the area.
 History of Carentan

Finally here's the picture of the house in which the US medical post was set up
after the battle.
 History of Carentan

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.
 History of Carentan
Then turned north east 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.
 Fighting in Carentan
Where were the Fallschirmjägers and where did they open fire?

C. Carwood Lipton
E Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment

"(...)As we reached the outskirts of Carentan we started getting German rifle

and machine gun fire. The houses in this area were somewhat like row houses
except that there were enclosed stairways leading up to the second floors from
the outside. I thought that we were getting sniper fire from one of the upstairs
windows. Buck Taylor and I were working as a team at this point, checking and
clearing the buildings and area as went, so I told him that I would go up the
stairway to that room and that after he had given me enough time to get to
the top he should throw a grenade through the upstairs window. I would then
jump into the room and finish off whoever was there.

I ran up the steps and stopped outside the door. I heard the grenade thump
into the room through the window and its explosion. I threw open the door and
leaped into the room, my rifle thrust forward ready to fire. I couldn't see a
thing! The room was filled with dust and smoke from the explosion. If there
had been a sniper there and he had been able to shield himself from the
grenade he would have had me silhouetted in the door, but the room was
empty.

We continued to check buildings and work our way toward the town center.
The rifle and machine gun fire against us seemed to decrease somewhat as we
moved farther in , but mortar and artillery fire increased. Men were getting hit.

Someone yelled that Tipper was hit across the street from me. I ran over. He
was lying there conscious but hurt seriously. A medic was bandaging his face
and his eye was obviously gone. He had major wounds in on arm and one leg.
I told him he would be well taken care of and moved on.

I came to a major road intersection, nearer the town center. There was small
arms and machine gun fire coming down the street from the right, across my
front. Across on the other side of that street, on the continuation of the street
I was standing on, were several E Company men. There were explosions up on
the walls of the buildings on the left side of the street that they were on, and
they looked to me like German 5cm mortar shells fired at a low trajectory so
that they were coming in somewhat horizontally rather than dropping in
vertically. I was on the right side of the street I was on, against a building on
my right, and I did not think that the fire could get to me, but I started yelling
to the men on the other side to move farther along. I thought that in the noise
and confusion they might not realize that mortar fire was being directed at
them.(...)"
 Fighting in Carentan
After reading this Sgt Perry thinks that the US Paras were attacked when they
reached the first crossroad and that there was a house to house fight along the
road up to the crossroads with the RN13 and that Lipton was wounded there
(near the Desire Ingouf restaurant).

I must admit I am still quite confused about the exact route taken by Easy
company from La Billonerie into Carentan.

If you follow this map, it suggests 2/506 (incl Easy) attacked La Billonerie and
then moved up the Periers road into Carentan (passing the rail junction and
the restaurant Desire Ingouf).
 Fighting in Carentan
On the other hand, if you follow this map, then E/2/506 may have attacked La
Billonerie from the west, then continued in a NE direction into Carentan, that
means passing the train station and the Mairie/Ecole.

Regarding Lipton's account above, it is quite interesting. I would like to see

some pictures of these houses that he describes - with the outside staircase
leading to the 2nd floor. (In Band of Brothers, this becomes the big factory
which has a sniper on the staircase, and Lipton runs in to clear the factory,
after that he is wounded outside the factory. But in this respect, I think BoB is
not accurate.)
 Fighting in Carentan
Anyway, the only factory I can find in Carentan at that time was the Gloria milk
factory which is in the NE of Carentan, near the river port, which is totally
opposite to the direction that Easy Company arrived in Carentan.

This is an excerpt on Carentan from the US Army official history "From Utah
Beach to Cherbourg"

"The 2d Battalion (506th), meanwhile, had moved out astride the main road
leading into Carentan from the southwest. It received harassing machine-gun
fire and interdictory artillery fire from the south most of the way into town. As
the battalion entered, it met the 1st Battalion, 401st Glider Infantry, which had
already come in from the northeast. This unit had pushed a patrol to the edge
of the town before dawn, but it still faced the enemy rear guard and was
temporarily stopped. At 0600 it attacked out of the wood at Bassin a Flot and
drove rapidly into the center of Carentan. The meeting with the 2d Battalion,
506th Parachute Infantry, occurred about 0730 after a short fight with enemy
stragglers around the railroad station."

Based on this short excerpt, and the recent discovery that this house (located
just south of the level crossing opposite the restaurant Desire Ingouf) might be
the location of the aid station that treated Blithe and Winters.
 Fighting in Carentan
I think it is correct that Easy Company moved up the Periers road and past the
restaurant Desire Ingouf.

This picture should be the Auvers/Periers crossroads, with Carentan in the

background.

On the right side of the road

behind the Belgian gate is the
"Cafe du Stade" where the MG42
was located and near the Para on
the left, the cd903 (from
Auvers).

The Cafe de Normandie in the TV

series looks nothing like the real
Cafe du Stade!
 Fighting in Carentan
The map is a little confusing. The red marked route suggests that Easy
Company did not move north into Carentan, instead moving south towards
Periers.

The position of the first aid station is also different. Sgt Perry has found out
that the first aid station is not the building near the railroads.
 Fighting in Carentan
I was puzzled by the writing on the wall of this building. It looks like "TAILLES",
meaning "measures", but that doesn't make much sense.

Eventually I found this:

 Carentan grows
After 3 weeks' work, here's a status update on Carentan. As you can see, the approach to
Carentan is almost complete.

There should be one more house to the right of Cafe Normandie, and another ruined
shop/house next to the existing ruined house.

These will be my next builds. After that, I will have to start thinking about the factory.

Here are more shots of the town from different angles.

I figured Cafe Normandie should get a backyard since there is one in the DVD.

Three weeks ago

Today
 The Ruined House
This house appears on the Band of Brothers Carentan set. It is between the
first ruined house and the factory/warehouse.

This is the house with the chicken coop at the back, where "Shifty" takes cover
from the MG in Cafe de Normandie. From this position, Shifty also takes out
the sniper on the stairs of the factory. Unfortunately, I can't say if this house
actually exists in Carentan.

I use 30x30cm cork floor tiles which you can get from any building supplies
store for around EUR10 for a pack of 10 tiles. You need 1 tile to build a house
of this size. The restaurant in the other thread required 3 tiles as it was much
bigger.

First, draw in all the doors and windows. This will determine the dimensions of
the house. For this house, I've opted for 1.5x2.5cm windows and 2x4cm doors.
Each floor is 5cm high.
The Ruined House
For the side walls, my measurements are 9cm wide x 15cm tall.
After cutting out all the walls, just sketch in the damaged areas.
 The Ruined House
Cut out the damaged areas with a heavy duty pair of scissors and all the doors
and windows.

Then glue all the walls together on a 3mm thick MDF base. I find that UHU all-
purpose glue works well.

For added strength, reinforce the corners with PVA glue after the UHU has set.

Note that I've added the upper floor supports on the inner walls.

After building the basic house structure, I added the window frames and shutters.

For detailed method on how this is done, see the next part for the House on Place de la
Republique.
The Ruined House
 The Ruined House
The ruined roof is fairly easy (yay! no dormers on this house!!) Just cut out the
damaged part of the roof and use plastic strips to represent the damaged roof
supports.

The roof is removable, and so is the upper floor. Thus the building is fully
playable inside as well.
 The Ruined House

Then add little rubble piles using broken-up pieces of cork glued together with
white glue:
After the white glue sets overnight, the house will be ready for the next stage -
masking, spraying with textured paint, and painting.
 The Ruined House
Finally, the completed the house!

I need to make the factory next, then I will see if I need a few more houses
(need some shops) to fill up a 120 x120cm board.
The Ruined House
The Ruined House
 House on Place de la
Republique
Here are some step-by-step photos and instructions on how I build an ordinary
Carentan house.

This is the house on Place de la Republique that I intend to reproduce. I

believe this real house is the inspiration for the house that appears in Band of
Brothers 2 houses to the right of Cafe Normandie.
 House on Place de la
Republique
First step is to figure out where all the doors and windows are. I normally
make each floor 5cm high. The doors are 4cm high and the windows 2.5cm.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Then cut out the front and back walls from the cork.

Don't use cheap box cutters. I use a good heavy-duty Stanley knife which cuts
through the cork really easily.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Next do the side walls and cut them out.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Cutting out the windows is tough, but a little bit of patience and half an hour
later:
 House on Place de la
Republique
I went to the hardware store and found this craft ruler thingy. I wish I had
discovered it earlier. It makes measuring and drawing lines and angles such a
breeze, I'm never using my old school plastic rulers again.

This picture shows the ruler set square thingy resting on a piece of 3mm thick
MDF board which I've measured and cut out for the base of this house.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Once the base is ready, just stick all the cork pieces together. You can use UHU
all-purpose glue for a quick bond, and after the UHU has set, reinforce all the
inside corners with PVA white glue to ensure a solid bond.

You'll note that I've left a 2cm margin around the edges of the house for the
pavement, which I'll score in later.
 House on Place de la
Republique
I have no idea why the windows on the second story are set off centre. I've
noticed that not all Norman houses are built symmetrically. Maybe there's a
room there that doesn't need a window, or maybe it's a stairwell.

I found this old postcard on the web showing Carentan's main square with the
WW1 memorial. From the look of the cars it could be either late '30s or just
after the war. You can just make out the house I'm building on the extreme
right.

The small car on the right is either a Renault 4CV or a Fiat 600. Both where
build after WW2. That makes the photo about late 1940s or early 1950s.
 House on Place de la
Republique
This photo is definitely pre-war. Probably 1920s. The house is partly obscured
by the WW1 monument.
 House on Place de la
Republique
The next step is to make the cork joints less visible.

In my previous buildings, I used normal plastic modelling putty. For this model,
I'm trying out a wood filler which I bought at the hardware store. Just squeeze
it out of the tube and use a sculpting tool to spread it over the joints,
smoothing it out as you go.
 House on Place de la
Republique
The window and door frames are cut out from plastic strips. The curved part
above the front door was cut out from a sheet of plastic card.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Just to add a bit of interest, I decided to build a small outhouse at the back. I
have no idea if the back of the actual house looks like this as I can't find any
photos of the backyard.
 House on Place de la
Republique
The house interiors are all playable, with removable upper floors. The first step
is to glue in cork supports along the inside walls.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Reviewing the photo of the house again, I noticed that I made a mistake on
the upper window frames. So I spent some time to correct it with plastic strips.
 House on Place de la
Republique
The strip right at the top of the house has some decorative protrusions. These
were just wedges of plastic cut out from waste strips.
 House on Place de la
Republique
To do the window shutters, just cut out appropriate sized rectangles from
plastic card, and use some strips for the hinges.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Next come the doors.

The rear door was cut from a textured plastic sheet obtained from a model
train shop.

The front door is cut from plastic card and decorated with plastic strips.
 House on Place de la
Republique
The chimneys are cut from balsa wood which you can buy in a hobby or DIY
store.
 House on Place de la
Republique
For the roof I used textured plastic card from the model train store.

Just measure it and cut it out with a Stanley knife. Did I say already how much
I love my new Stanley knife? It cuts through plastic, cork and MDF so easily.
On the other hand, my old and cheap box cutters don't work as well and
require a lot more effort to cut.

Don't forget to cut a bit of indentation in the roof to allow for the chimneys!
 House on Place de la
Republique
These roof tiles are from Vollmer, a German model railroad company. On
some of my other houses, I used roof tiles by another German company called
Auhagen. You could also use other brands, for example the ones stocked by
Antenociti's Workshop.
 House on Place de la
Republique
Now comes the part I hate most - making the 2 dormers on the roof. It is quite
a job cutting out all the small bits of card for each dormer.

As it requires quite a lot of cutting, drilling and filing to get it attached to the
roof, make the dormers and fit them on BEFORE gluing the angle of the roof
together (I almost forgot!!)

Dormers are a bloody hassle, but they have to be done!

Start first with the side walls. You have to get the angle right, otherwise the
dormer won't sit straight.

The little tab at the bottom of the side walls is for supporting the dormer on
the roof. Cut a hole in the roof that will fit the tab. This will ensure that the
dormer doesn't slide off while the glue is drying.
 House on Place de la
Republique
I got so stressed building the little roof for the dormer, I forgot to take photos.
So here is a photo of the step after the dormer roofs have been built and
fitted.

Join the main roof together and add triangular supports to strengthen the
joint.
 House on Place de la
Republique
In this photo, you can see what the dormer roof looks like.

The fiddly part is getting all the angles right. I haven't worked out a good way
to do this yet, so it's all trial and error.

After joining all the roof tile pieces together, hide the ugly seams with strips of
card from a corn flakes box.
 House on Place de la
Republique
And the finished product.
 House on Place de la
Republique
I haven't fitted the gate and garden walls yet as I'm going to spray the house
with a granite-texture spray.

I'll put in the walls and gate after the texture spray has gone on. So the next
step is to mask off all the windows and doors in preparation for spraying.

Here's the house all masked, ready to be sprayed with Dupli-Color Granit
Texture spray (Krylon Stone texture spray works just as well).
 House on Place de la
Republique
The spray worked, and the fence and gate have been attached.
 House on Place de la
Republique
The finished house.

The fences and gate are from Faller, another German model railroad
manufacturer.

The Faller fences are HO scale. I guess they are meant to be full height for HO,
but they work well as low fences for 28mm.
 The Factory
Here is the method for building the factory.

The administration building is made from cork. The building front, sides and
rear are measured as before, and the windows and doors cut out.

Plastic strips are used for all window and door frames. The roof is a textured
plastic sheet from Vollmer, cut to the appropriate size and glued together.

As you can see, the walls are simply cork cut to the required shape and glued
onto MDF board in which I have scored a pavement pattern with a knife.
 The Factory
The side shed and factory chimney are actually HO-scale German railroad
accessory models.

The shed is actually a locomotive shed, so it is tall enough for people in 28mm
scale. But the side door on the shed is too small (HO sized) so I had to cut out
a larger door for 28mm people.
 The Factory
For comparison, here's a screen shot from Band of Brothers showing the
factory in the background:

BTW, the factory

administration building
resembles the 25th
Artillery barracks in
Carentan.
The Factory
 Carentan grows some
more
Here's what Carentan looks like so far. I've made a 4'x4' (120 x120cm) board
out of MDF.

I'm not sure I like the look of it as the grey is just a bit too overwhelming.

I think it might be better to use a grass board with cobblestone streets placed
on top.
Carentan grows some
more
 Shops
Now that I have a load of houses, and a factory, I need some French shops for
my town.

As I already built a house on Carentan's Place de la Republique, I decide to

build a couple more buildings from this famous square.

This is a view of the square after the city was captured by the US 101st
Airborne in 1944.

I decide to build the houses starting from "Cafe du Progres" to the "Horlogerie,
Bijouterie" and "Meubles"
 Shops
Here's another view of these houses.
 Shops
Unfortunately in both these photos, you can't make out the full structure of the
Horlogerie-Meubles house.

I managed to find this picture showing a victory parade on Place de la

Republique, showing quite clearly what this house looks like (on the left).
 Shops
So using the technique described earlier for building the house with garden on
Place de la Republique, I scratch-built these two buildings.

It will take me a bit of time to make the roof of the Horlogerie-Meuble house as it has
five(!!) bloody dormers!!
Shops
Shops
 The Game
Here are some photographs of the finished town in use. Miniatures are 28mm
miniatures from Crusader and Artizan Designs.
 Products
Companies and products mentioned in the text

Band of Brothers, a book by Stephen Ambrose and a film series by HBO.

ISBN-10: 0743429907
ISBN-13: 978-0743429900
Just type it into Amazon for a huge list of the various DVD/Bluray sets.

Lead Adventure Forum the online community where this all happened.
[Link]

Matakishi's Tea House my website where the original article is hosted.

[Link]

Miniature Building Authority

[Link]

Auhagen
[Link]

[Link]
[Link]

Verlinden
[Link]

Vollmer
[Link]

Antenociti's Workshop
[Link]

Faller
[Link]

Crusader Miniatures
[Link]

Artizan Designs
[Link]
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