Panther Ausf A
The Panther was the best all-round German tank of the war and although conceived as a medium tank, at 45 tons and with frontal armour over 100mm thick, it could easily be rated more highly.
Box contains 1 plastic, metal and resin halftrack in 1:56 scale. Also contains 2 metal crewmen and a full-colour waterslide decal sheet.
Box contains 1 plastic, metal and resin halftrack in 1:56 scale. Also contains 2 metal crewmen and a full-colour waterslide decal sheet.
Na razie nie dodano żadnej recenzji.
The Panther was the best all-round German tank of the war and although conceived as a medium tank, at 45 tons and with frontal armour over 100mm thick, it could easily be rated more highly.
Containing a single Sd.KLfz 251/1 „neue” ausf D half-track, the 'Late’ version of the Hanomag, this easy to build, yet remarkably detailed, plastic boxed set gives your Panzergrenadiers mobility, a degree of protection and the supporting firepower of their MGs for and aft.
German officers were capable and often experienced leaders. Junior officers were trained to undertake the role of their immediate superiors, enabling them to use their initiative to take control of situations when necessary. The Afrika Korps (DAK) proved this through consistent victories as well as elusiveness in retreat.
The Sd.Kfz 251 half-track was the ubiquitous German half-track used throughout World War II to transport Panzergrenadiers. The 251 was known by German and Allied soldiers alike as ‘Hanomag’ after its manufacturer Hannoversche Maschinenbau AG.
Germany’s aggressive campaigns of conquest ensured that her armies would fight in many countries far from the fatherland and in starkly contrasting terrain and weather conditions. German soldiers were well-equipped for their venture into Europe, and later North Africa, but found themselves ill-prepared for the bleak, freezing and unforgiving Eastern Front. When the Russian armies failed to collapse, the Wehrmacht found itself caught out on the Russian plains, freezing, literally in many cases, to death.
After the the initial spectacular success of the German invasion of Russia in 1941 the invasion slowed to a crawl as the weather and hard fighting ground down their formations. Desperate to shore up the front seven regiments were formed of non-flying personnel taken from the German air force, the Luftwaffe. These regiments were equipped with standard infantry weapons, and sent to quieter areas of the front to gain experience.
The Puma is, arguably, one of the best-looking armoured cars of WWII. A variant of the Sdkfz 234 it boasted a fully enclosed turret with a 5cm gun and thicker armour than other variants. Despite this additional armour the Puma was still capable of speeds greater than 50 miles per hour (that’s 85km) and saw use as a scout vehicle from 1943 onwards on both Eastern and Western fronts, as even the thickened armour didn’t offer much in the way of protection.
The Fallschirmjager instead acted as elite infantry serving in all theatres in which Germany fought. Supported by two weapons with a high rate of fire – the deadly MG42 general purpose machine gun and the Granatwerfer 34 8cm medium mortar – they were respected by the Allies for their fighting ability and honourable actions.
The world’s first paratroopers to be used in large numbers, the German Fallschirmjager were at the tip of the spear when war broke out in 1939. They led daring assaults on strategic targets, such as the fortress at Eben Emael, enabling the following panzers to overrun Europe.
The Panzer III was one of the most numerous German tanks of the war, and was the mainstay of German armoured forces when they invaded France and the Low Countries, then later Russia. It was well armoured for the time and equipped with the 5cm KwK 38 or 39 L/42 cannon, the N variant having a 7.5cm KwK 37 cannon.
Perhaps a more famous adaptation was the Opel Maultier „Mule” half-track. Introduced in 1941 following the dire Rasputitsa conditions of the Eastern Front that had brought the entire army to a stand still. This conversion, utilizing the track system of the obsolete Panzer I, gave the German army a very competent all purpose mover and it would see action through out the rest of the war.
Originally developed as an anti-aircraft weapon, the Flak 37 8.8cm (or Eighty-eight as it became known by Allied troops) had a high muzzle velocity to allow it to reach the higher ranges modern bombers were capable of at the time. This would make it an exceptionally deadly anti-tank weapon as many Allied tank crews would learn to their peril. The 88 could also be deployed as a conventional artillery piece – as one infantryman noted, the 88 was 'anti-everything’…
The Sd.Kfz 251/7 Ausf D half-tracked engineer commonly known as the Pionierwagen. Based on the ubiquitous Sd.Kfz 251 Hanomag half-track, the Pionierwagen was a very useful vehicle for the assault engineers of the German Army, seeing service on all fronts, from the vast open areas of the Russian Front to the rubble-choked streets of Berlin in 1945.
Panzergrenadier units in armoured half-tracks, trucks and field cars helped the infantry to keep pace with their armoured brethren. By the time of the invasion of Russia in 1941 the panzergrenadiers had equipped their troop leaders’ half-tracks with the standard anti-tank gun of the day – the 37mm PaK 36. By replacing the front machine gun with this useful light gun the panzergrenadier units could rely on a modicum of fire support as they charged swiftly across the battlefield, supported by their platoon’s personnel carriers.
German officers were capable and often experienced leaders. Junior officers were trained to undertake the role own immediate superiors, enabling them to use their intuition to take control of situations when necessary.
Formed around a core of Veteran Troops and armed with the new StG44, the Volksgrenadiers head to battle in defense of their homeland!